290 Mr. T. Ayres on the Ornithology of Transvaal. 



bored in the banks ; during the day they generally disperse, 

 and may then be found solitary, or but two or three together. 

 [Livingstone mentions seeing this species, and also Merops 

 apiaster, breeding in society in holes in the banks of the 

 river Leeambye in November or December {vide ' Missionary 

 Travels/ p. 248) ; see also Mr. Buckley's account of the nidi- 

 fication of this Bee-eater on the banks of the Limpopo in 

 'The Ibis ' for 1874, p. 363.— J. H. G.] 



Merops pusillus, Miill. Rufous-winged Bee-eater. 



Male and female, Rustcnburg, June 17th and July 22nd. 

 Irides bright crimson; bill black ; tarsi and feet dusky. 



A common species about Rustenburg, frequenting sparsely 

 wooded localities, and pretty generally distributed. 



312. CoRACiAs CAUDATUS, Linn. Lilac-breasted Roller. 

 Male, Rustenburg, July 30th. Irides light umber; bill 



black ; tarsi and feet pale olive-green. 



Female, Rustenburg, July 27th. Irides tawny ; bill, tarsi, 

 and feet as in the male. Stomach contained beetles and 

 grasshoppers. 



I found these Rollers scarce and very wild ; they were soli- 

 tary, or, at most, in pairs ; they frequent the wooded parts 

 of the Megaliesbergen, apparently prefering some hill-sides to 

 others, and high trees to the lower bush. 



[In the pair of tliese birds sent by Mr. Ayres the exterior 

 rectrices are about half an inch longer in the male than in 

 the female. The late Mr. E. C. Buxton, who met with this 

 species near the Lo Bombo mountains in August 1872, wrote 

 to nfe respecting it as follows : — " The easiest way to get 

 these birds was to set the grass on fire ; as soon as there was 

 a large fire (and sometimes many acres would be burning at 

 once), these birds came in numbers to feed on the insects 

 that were driven out ; and, in fact, all the insectivorous birds 

 came, to say nothing of Crows and other birds.'' — J. H. G.] 



313. CoRACiAs NiEvius, Licht. White-naped Roller. 

 Male, Rustenburg, June 24th. Irides ashy brown ; bill 



black ; tarsi and feet dull greenish yellow. 



This Roller is much scarcer than the preceding species ; it 



