MEROPIDAE 387 



parts, the crest being green with black transverse stripes, and 

 the bill black. Alcedo ispida of Britain, the whole of Europe, 

 and the greater part of Asia, has greenish -blue upper parts, 

 brighter blue head and tail, chestnut under parts and broad eye- 

 streak, white throat and patches at the side of the neck, and 

 black bill, often orange at the base. A. hrnjUtnn of Java and 

 Lond)ok differs in being entirely greenish-blue above, and white 

 with a blue chest-band below. Ceryle is the sole genus found 

 in the New World, though it occurs also in South-East Europe, 

 most of Asia and Africa; C. alcyoii, the Belted Kingfisher, alone 

 reaches the Northern United States and Canada. The half dozen 

 large crested species are generally black and white, relieved by 

 chestnut or grey, but C. aniazona and its nearest allies are dull 

 green above. 



Felargopsis guricd of India and Assam, one of the " Stork- 

 billed Kingfishers," has a brown head, yellowish-fawn collar and 

 under i)arts, dull fjreen mantle and tail, oreenish-Vjlue lower back, 

 and red beak. 



Fam. W. Meropidae. — The Bee-eaters are extremely Ijrilliant 

 and graceful birds, which range over the temperate and tropical 

 portions of the Old "World, being especially plentiful in tlie 

 Ethiopian Eegion, and somewhat less so in the Indian. The 

 Palaearctic countries possess only four species, but Celebes alone 

 has three, one of wdiich {Merops ornatus) extends through the 

 Moluccas to Papuasia and Australia. 



The bill is long and gradually curved, with a culminar ridge 

 and deflected mandible, the maxilla being grooved and more 

 arched in Nyctiornis. The short, stout metatarsus, which is 

 weaker in Merops, is scutellated anteriorly and reticulated pos- 

 teriorly ; the abbreviated toes — rather longer in Xyctiornts — 

 have slender curved claws, and are united in the case of the 

 third and fourth to the last joint, in the second and third to a 

 le.ss extent. The usually short and rounded wings aje long and 

 pointed in Merups and Dicruccreas ; the primaries nuriiber eleven, 

 or ten in A'yctioriiis, and the secondaries twelve or thirteen. 

 The tail of twelve rectrices is even in Melittophiujas and Nyc- 

 tiornis, deeply forked in Dierocercus, and square with two 

 elongated and tapering median feathers in Merops and Mcivjtof/on. 

 The furcula is U-shaped, the tongue is lanceolate, the nustrils 

 are concealed by dense feathers in Xyctiornis and Jfcroj'oyo/i ; 



