50 MEROPID^. 



Merop svariegatus {nee V.), Reichenb. Handb., Merop. p. 72, Taf. 447. 



fig. 3238 (1852). 

 Merops lafresuavi, Reichenb. Handb., Merop. p. 72, Taf. 447. fig. 3239 



(1852). 

 Sphecophobus variegatus et S. lafresnayii, Reichenb. t. c. p. 82. 



Adidt male. Similar to M. pusillus, but larger, and having a 

 frontal band of ultramarine blue which extends backwards over the 

 eye ; the hinder cheeks white ; the patch on the fore neck deep 

 blue instead of black : the chestnut colour extending down the 

 breast, the abdomen tinged with golden green, and the tail-feathers 

 tipped with purer white : " bill black ; feet dusky ; iris cinnabar- 

 red " {Heuglin). Total length 8 inches, culmen 1-45, wing 4, 

 tail 3'5, tarsus 0*3o. 



Adult female. Similar to the male. Total length 7"5 inches, 

 culmen 1-4, wing 3*7, tail 3*2, tarsus 3-5. 



Hah. N.E. Africa from Abyssinia to Shoa. 



o. Ad. sk. Sooroo, Abyssinia, AprU 5 ( JF. Tweeddale Coll. 



Jesse). 

 b, c. Ad. sk. Undul and Barakit, Abyssinia, W. T. Blanford, 



Feb., May. Esq. [P.]. 



d. Ad. sk. On the road to Magdala {Col. Hume Coll. 



Napier Sturt). 

 e.f. Ad.sk. Anseba Eiver, Bogos Land Sharps Coll. 



(Esler). 

 g,h. KA.sk. Shoa (Sir W. C. Harris). India Mus. 



V, k. S; I. 2 ^^- Sciotalit, Shoa, Jan., Feb., June Shelley Coll. 



sk. {O. Antinori). 



6. Melittophagus gularis. 



Merops gularis, Shaiv S/- Nodder, Nat. Misc. ix. pi. 337 (1798) ; 



Vieill. N. Did. d'Hist. Nat. xiv. p. 16 (1817) ; Hartl. Orn. W.- 



Afr. p. 42 (1857) ; Reichenb. Handb., Merop. p. 80, pi. 452. tigs. 



3258-59 (1852) ; Schl. Mm. Rays-Bas, Merops, p. 12 (1863) ; 



Reichen. J.f. O. 1875, p. 19; Bdttik. Notes Leijden Mus. x. p. 71 



(1885), p. 167 (1886). 

 Eed-throated Bee-eater, Shaw, Gen. Zool. viii. p. 177, pi. 23 (1811). 

 Melittophagus gularis. Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 86, pi. 30 (1846) ; Dresser, 



Monogr. Merop. p. 123, pis. 28, 29 (1885) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1890, 



p. 167 ; Sharps, App. to Jameson's ' Rear Column,' p. 407 (1890). 

 Meropiacus gularis, Sundev. CEfv. K. Vet.-Akad. Forh. Stockh. 1849, 



p. 1G2 ; Cass. Proc. Philad. Acad. 1859, p. 35 ; Hartl. J. f. 0. 1861, 



p. 107; Skarpe, Ibis, 1869, p. 385; Ussher, Ibis, 1874, p. 48; 



Skarpe ^- Bouv. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 304 (1876) ; Socage, 



Orn. Angola, p. 94 (1877). 

 Nyctioruis gularis, Bp. Consp. i. p. 164 (1850) ; Gray, Hand-l. i. 



p. 98, no. 1197 (1869). 



Adult. General colour above glossy black, including the scapulars 

 and lower back ; rump and upper tail-coverts brilliant blue ; wing- 

 coverts black, the greater coverts edged externally with blue ; 

 bastard-wing and primary-coverts black : quills chestnut, edged 

 and banded at the tip with black, the outer primaries almost 



