MEROPID^. 61 



upon any prey which may chance to come within their 

 ken, returning invariably to the same spot whether suc- 

 cessful or not. When their capture proves a bee or other 

 stinging insect, it is always seized across the body, when 

 the bird, after giving it a sharp squeeze or two between 

 the mandibles of the bill, quickly swallows it. I have 

 seen lizards pursue exactly the same plan when catching 

 hymenopterous insects. 



When on the wing, this Bee-eater utters a pleasant 

 but rather subdued warbling chirp. 



The iris in this species is red, the legs and toes reddish 

 brown, and the bill almost black. 



The female bird is not quite so large, nor so brightly 

 coloured, as the male. 



77. Merops SUpercilioSUS, Linn. Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. 



Merops Savigni, Swainsou's Birds of W. Afiica, vol. ii. pi. 7. 



„ „ Laj'ard's Cat. No. 112. 



Merops cpgyptius, ibid. No. 113. 

 Me)-ops superciliosus, Finsch & Hartlaub'sVogel Ost-Afrika's, No. 70. 



„ „ Sharpe, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 145. 



„ „ J. H. Gurney, Jim., Orn. of Algeria, Ibis, 1871, 



p. 75. 

 Merops (egyptius, Sbai-pe's Cat. 20. 



I have only once observed this species, which I then 

 met with near the river Okavango. 



The iris is reddish brown, the legs and toes brown, 

 and the bill black. 



[Mr. Andersson's last collection contained several specimens 

 of this Bee-eater obtained in Ondonga in November 1866^ 

 no doubt subsequently to the date of the note above recorded. 



—Ed.] 



