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own birds, and also because wild specimens have been observed

with one side of the bill greatly worn. It taps the perch with

only one side of the bill ; and the bill being worn mostly on one

side might seem to suggest that it works in a somewhat similar

one-sided manner. I am unable to say which sex is the more

industrious, or whether both alike assist in the work of

excavating.


In the young and adult of this species, from and in a

straight line with the black bill, there runs backwards a black

line across and embracing the eye and terminating with the ear-

coverts, which are produced behind so as to form what might be

popularly called an external ear. When the bird is sitting in

it’s ordinary posture of observation, with the head down and the

bill slightly raised, this ear is not observable ; but it becomes

conspicious when the back of the head is drawn up and the bill

is pointed downwards. It is perhaps rather more observable in

the male than in the female.


Our artist, Mr. Herbert Goodcliild, has done his best—and

a very pretty best it is—to let 11s see what young Bee-eaters in

their first feather are like. I was rather urgent that the

painting of my two birds should not be deferred, notwith¬

standing the fog and darkness, for one of them seemed to be

dying ; but just as the fates have so far been disappointed of

their victim, so were they disappointed in their endeavours to

spoil the portrait; perseverance and skill gained the day; and

the painting, which was commenced on the 10th October, was

completed on the 21st., and speaks for itself. I fancied, from

the amount of chestnut on the head, that the male must have

commenced his moult before I received him, but perhaps I was

wrong ; and this may be the normal colouring of the young

male: certainly it was later before he shed feathers with me.

They moulted very slowly and gradually during the winter,

perhaps because of the comparative cold ; but it is possible that

it is a beautiful provision of Nature that birds who largely

depend on their powers of flight for obtaining their daily bread

should have a gradual moult, so as not at any time to be crippled.

It was not until February that they began to moult the breast

feathers, the bright new feathers shewing out conspicuously from

among the old, and proclaiming to all how the work was pro¬

gressing in that particular region. Since their portrait was

taken, they have changed considerably, the colours of the adult

slowly but steadily superseding the green plumage of the young

birds on the upper parts ; and the bills are much longer. Perhaps,



