MEROPIDAE 



389 



never much elongated ; Mcropogon and Nyctiornis have the gnlar 

 feathers broad and lengthened into a tuft. 



The Family contains five genera with some thirty-five species, 

 varying in size from fourteen inches in Mcroi^s 7iatahnsis to 

 about six and half in several forms of Melitto2oliagus. Nyctiornis 

 amictus, of the Malay countries, is green, with lilac forehead and 

 crown, scarlet cheeks and throat-tuft, and a few greenish- l^lue 

 plumes at tlie base of the bill. Merojwr/on forsfcri of Celebes is 

 also green, but has the crown, gular plumes and breast cobalt-blue, 

 the occiput and nape brown, tlie alxlomen dusky, and the lateral 

 tail-feathers reddish-brown margined with green. Meroj^is a2na.ster 

 has ruddy-brown head, neck, upper back, and broad alar bar, 

 buff lower back, green wings and tail with black tips to the 

 long median rectrices, light blue upper tail-coverts, pale green 

 and white forehead, black ear-coverts, and bright yellow throat, 

 divided from the greenish-blue under parts by a black band. It 

 not unfrequently visits 

 Britain — as the Blue- 

 tailed Bee -eater, M. 

 philippinus, is said to 

 have done once — and 

 ranges from South 

 Europe to Central Asia 

 and North Africa, 

 wintering in North- 

 West India and South 

 Africa. M. viridis, 

 extending from Sene- 

 gambia to North-East 

 Africa and Cochin 

 China, is yellowish- 

 green, with a rufous 

 tint on the hind-neck, 

 much buff on the 

 wing- and tail-quills, 

 a black band washed 



•ii 11 ii X' Fig. 81. — Bee-eater. Merops uniaster. x 2. 



With blue on the lore- ^ -' 



neck, and some blue and black on the face. M. mihicus of the 

 northern half of the Ethiopian Eegion has crimson-] )ink upper 

 parts, blue-green head and throat, light blue rump and iibdomen, 



