284 BEE-EATER. 



along the valley of the Danube, and in Southern Italy, the Bee-eater 

 is abundant ; and in the Spanish Peninsula it swarms from the 

 beginning of April until the latter part of August. It visits the 

 Canaries and Madeira, and is common throughout the basin of the 

 Mediterranean and in North Africa, while in winter it is found as 

 far south as Cape Colony. In Egypt it is abundant on migration, 

 though few remain to breed, the representative species being the 

 Blue-cheeked M. persicus. Eastward, it reaches the Altai Mountains 

 in summer, and North-western India in winter. 



The Bee-eater generally breeds in colonies, like the Sand-Martin, 

 and banks by the side of rivers or dried-up watercourses may be seen 

 honeycombed with its excavations, commenced soon after arrival ; 

 the bill of the bird being sometimes worn down by the operation. 

 In the great plains below Seville holes are often bored diagonally or 

 even vertically in the ground ; and as the shafts vary from three or 

 four to eight or nine feet in depth, the eggs, placed in a smaller 

 chamber at the end, are not reached without labour. These, 

 generally 5-6 in number, are laid upon the bare earth, though after- 

 w-ards surrounded by castings and the wing-cases &c. of coleop- 

 terous insects ; they are pure glossy white, nearly globular in shape : 

 measurements i in. by -9 in. Though sometimes found by the end 

 of April, the middle of May is the usual time, and only one brood 

 appears to be reared in the season. SacksfuU of birds are taken in 

 Spain by spreading a net over the face of an occupied bank and 

 pouring water into a parallel trench cut at some distance back ; for 

 the Bee-eater is hated by the peasants, owing to the ravages inflicted 

 upon their numerous hives, though it also destroys large numbers 

 of wasps, locusts, grasshoppers, beetles and other insects. The 

 flight is light and undulating ; the note is a sharp quilp. 



The adult male has the lores and ear-coverts black ; forehead 

 white below, pale green above ; head, neck, upper back and a broad 

 bar on the secondaries, chestnut-brown ; remaining quills chiefly 

 bluish-green ; lower back tawny-yellow ; tail green, the two elongated 

 central feathers tipped with black ; throat bright yellow, with a 

 black band ; under parts greenish-blue ; bill black ; feet reddish- 

 brown. Length ii*25 in.; wing 6 in. The female is greener on 

 the back, duller in colour, and has the central tail-feathers shorter. 

 In the young these feathers scarcely project ; the upper parts are 

 greenish-brown ; and there is no black gorget. 



An identified adult Blue-tailed Bee-eater, M. philippinus, is said to 

 have been shot near Seaton Carew, Northumberland, in August 1862. 



