BAYA— BEE-EATER 29 



Turnices, and Striges. Similar processes spring from the basi- 

 sphenoidal rostrum in many other Carinatse, e.g. Anseres, Gallinse, 

 Cokxmba3, Pteroclidse, Cathartidse, and Serpentarius ; while in many 

 birds these processes are developed in the embryo but are resorbed 

 finally, or they are never developed, the anterior ends of the 

 pterygoids in either case articulating with the palatine bones alone, 

 or, resting directly uj)on the basisphenoidal rostrum, as in Phoeni- 

 copterus, GralL'e, Laridse, Dicholophus, Pygopodes, Impennes, 

 Steganopodes, Falconidse, Psittaci, Cuculid^e, Opisthocomus, Macro- 

 chires, Pici, and Passeres. In the Limicolae and Tubinares these 

 processes are very variable. For illustrations see Skulj.. 



BAYA (Hindoo BaicL), often used by English writers for the 

 common Weaver-bird of India, Ploceus haya, the builder of the well- 

 known retort-shaped nests. 



BAY-BIRD, and 



BEACH-BIRD, common names on the Atlantic coast of North 

 America for several of the Limicolx, as the Sanderling, Turn- 

 stone, and others. {Cf. Trumbull, Names ami Portraits of Birds, 

 pp. 186, 191 note.) 



BEAK, see Bill. 



BEAM-BIRD, said to be the name used in some parts of 

 England for the Spotted Flycatcher. 



BEE-EATER, a name apparently first used in 1668 by Charleton 

 (Onomasticon, p. 87) as a translation of the Latin and Greek Merops, 

 though he said that the bird was rarely or never found in England 

 — the Merops ajnasfer of ornithology. The term being appropriate 

 (as is shewn by its equivalent in cognate tongues — Danish, Bixder ; 

 German, Bienenfresser) has been continued to this species, and sub- 

 sequently extended to others more or less closely allied to it, form- 

 ing a small but natural Family, Meropidse, admirably monographed 

 by Mr. Dresser (London : 1884-1886, imp. 4to), who recognizes five 

 genera, and thirty-one species. They belong to the group in this 

 work termed Picarige, and are distinguished for their brilliant colora- 

 tion, their graceful form, and their active habits, since every species 

 seems to obtain its living by catching insects as they fly. The Bee- 

 eaters are birds of the Old World, and the majority (18) of the 

 species are peculiar to the Ethiopian Region, two more also occurring 

 ^\athin its limits, while only four inhabit the Palsearctic area, one of 

 them being the M. apiaster named above, which appears irregularly 

 in Northern Europe in summer, and has more than thirty times 

 visited Great Britain since its first recorded occurrence in June 

 1793, when a flight of about twenty was observed in Norfolk, and 

 a specimen obtained at that time is still preserved in the Derby 

 Museum at Liverpool. 



