436 'PICARIAN' BIRDS 



north of Scotland, that a pair was seen in Caithness in the spring of 



1897. 



]^ee-eaters are confined to the Old World, where the larger kinds, 

 as their name implies, subsist chiefly on bees and wasps, which they 

 seize across the body while in the air, and render harmless either by 

 crushing between the two halves of the beak or by beating against 

 their perch. When on the look-out for food these pretty little birds 

 station themselves on posts, bare branches, or telegraph-wires, whence 

 they dart suddenly on passing bees or wasps, with which the}- return 

 to their perches to make preparations for a meal. As may be inferred 

 from the foregoing statements in regard to their occurrence in England, 

 they generally live and breed in small companies ; excavating long 

 tunnels, with a large terminal chamber to each, in river-banks or cliffs, 

 for the reception of their long glossy white eggs, of which from three 

 to five generally go to a clutch. A low melodious note, which, when 

 once heard, is not likely to be forgotten, is characteristic of these birds. 



A single example of the blue-tailed bee-eater {^Merops philippiuus), 

 whose range extends from India and Ceylon to China and the Philip- 

 pines, is stated to have been taken in the summer of 1862 in 

 Northumberland. 



Kine-flsher ^ \yix<^ .so well known as the kingfisher (the type of 

 (Alcedo isDida) ^^ family Alcedinida.-) scarcely needs anything in 

 the way of description in a work of the present 

 nature, its brilliant livery of various shades of azure and green above 

 and of chestnut beneath, coupled with its abbreviated tail, long lance- 

 like black beak marked with a patch of crimson on the lower jaw, and 

 bright red legs and feet, rendering it distinguishable at a glance from 

 every other British bird. Although the two sexes when adult differ 

 but little in plumage, the female is somewhat less brilliant, with more 

 of a greenish tinge than her partner. Young birds, on the other hand, 

 are easily distinguished by their shorter beaks, which lack the red 

 patches on the sides, although their legs are of the same brilliant red 

 as in their parents. 



As a famiK', the kingfishers are distinguished from both rollers and 

 bee-eaters by the oil-gland being tufted (instead of bare), and by the 

 absence of a pair of blind appendages rca:ca) to the intestine. They 

 are further characterised b}' the feeble development of the legs and 

 feet, in the latter of which the outer and middle toes are united for 

 fully half their length, while the middle and inner toes are joined for 

 abfjut a third of their length. There are eleven jjrimary quills to the 



