Migration of Birds in South Africa. 17 



birds are commeuciiig breeding operations ; and while there 

 can be no doubt that the great majority of these birds, 

 especially among the Waders, make no uttem[)t to breed, 

 there is undoubted evidence that some few do so. 



Perha[)S the best instance of this is the European Bee- 

 eater (Merops apiaster). This bird, often called the Berg- 

 Zwalauuw by the Dutch, is found throughout Southern 

 Europe and ( Central Asia from Spain to Kashmir and the 

 Altai Mountains during the northern summer months. In 

 Spain, where it is well-known and abundant, it remains from 

 April till August, breeding freely in May. During the 

 northern winter the Bee-eater comes south to Africa, ap- 

 parently passing over Northern and Central Africa on 

 migration, and spending the months from October to March 

 in South Africa. 



The first notice of the breeding of this bird in South Africa 

 is that of Mr. Layard's correspondent, Mr. Henry Jackson, 

 who observed it so doing on his farm near Nelspoort in the 

 Beaufort West division. Mr. Layard himself also found it 

 nesting on the Berg River in the Malmesbury division, and 

 there is now exhibited in the South African Museum a model 

 of a nest with the eggs and parent bird, obtained by Mr. 

 Grithn, then the Museum taxidermist, taken on Mr. Kotze's 

 farm on the Berg River on November 11th; on another 

 occasion my friend Mr. W. G. Fairbridge took an egg ou 

 October 27th, 1901, on the Cape Flats about twelve miles 

 from Ca[)e Town, where I myself also saw the birds nesting in 

 a hole in the bank of a ditch. 



The evidence for the breeding of the Bee-eater, both in its 

 nortliern summer home and in its southern winter home, is 

 therefore indisputable. 



The question as to whether the same individual birds breed 

 twice in a year, once in the north in May and once in the 

 south in October, is, of course, another question, and one 

 which it would be very difficult to settle definitely. A pos- 

 sible hypothesis is that there are two races of Bee-eaters — the 

 northern race breeding in South Europe from May to 

 August, and wintering in Central Africa from September to 



VOL. II. 2 



