— 146 — 



Rituel'. — \Ve liave spécimens in the British Muséum from the 

 (îold Coast, N. and S. Nigeria, (.iaboon and llie Lower Congo. 



Observation. — No races of this Bee-eater are known. 



(Thèse birds ucn Hrst noticed on December 2~\.\\. Tiiev uere 

 abundanl in Februarv, large, noisy Hocks Hying round over the 

 watei tanks like svvallows. Thev feed largely on small beetles. 

 — W. P. L.) 



Melittophagus pusillus pusillus. 



Merops f>usil/iis P. S. L. Mimi... I.inn. Syst. Nat., Su])pl., 1776, 

 p. 95. — Tvpe localitv : Scncoal. 



-Mr. Lowh shot Iwo examples ol the Little ]3ee-eater in I )ecember 

 at Lagos and Mr. Kkmp obtained one at Agonlerie, also in Southern 

 Nigeria, in Mav. Mann also obtained it at Lagos (Stuttgart 

 Muséum). 



From Northern Nigeria there are spécimens in the British 

 Muséum from Kinna (August), Ibi'(April), Damakuldi (November), 

 and Amageddi (April), ail collected bv Boyd .Ai.ex.\ni)kr; also two 

 from Shonga collected bv Fokhks and bv Fkrrvm.vn respectivelv. 



Rdiige. — The Liltle Bee-eater lias an extensive distribution in 

 West Afnca. In the British Muséum it is represented from Sénégal, 

 Gambia, Portuguese Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast. X. and S. 

 Nigeria, Lake Chad, French Equatorial Africa, N. Belgian Congo. 



The vSouth African race M. />. nieridionalis Sharpk extends 

 northwards on the West Coast as far as the mouth of the Congo, 

 and this is the onlv other race besides the tvpical species which 

 occurs in West Africa. 



The other races of this Bee-eater are dealt with bv Mr. Ci.ai'dk 

 GRANr in the Ibis, 1915, pp. 294-296. 



(V^erv common at Iju, usiiallv seen in the open perched on any 

 convenient stick or plant. — W. P. L.) 



