BEE-EATERS. 



quitted, where they again station themselves to await the approach 

 of another victim. During the morning and evening they some- 

 times congregate in companies, flying about with much activity, 

 and catching insects after the manner of swallows. Their flight 

 is gi'aceful, and capable of being sustained during a lengthened 

 migration. Their cry is loud, and consists of harsh whistling notes, 

 continually repeated during their morning and evening excursions. 

 The young are reared in holes excavated horizontally in the sandy 

 banks of rivers, or in clifis which are sufficiently soft to be easily 

 penetrated : these excavations are prolonged interiorly to the 

 depth of a yard and more. The entrance is small, and the farther 

 end expanded into a chamber of such dimensions that the bird 

 can turn in it with facility. Here the eggs, usually four or five in 

 number, are deposited on the bare sand, or on a bed of moss or 

 other soft material. 



Sub-Family. 



THE BEE-EATERS PROPER. MEROPIN/E. 



This, the only sub-family, embraces numerous species common 

 in Africa and the East, but one only is accustomed to show itself 

 in Europe, named by English writers — 



The Common Bee-eater {Merops Apiaster). It is in this country, how- 

 ever, one of the rarest of the feathered race. It arrives in the southern parts 

 of the continent in March, and departs to warmer regions in September. It 

 flies in flocks, usually at a considerable elevation, and utters, with hoarse and 

 guttural voice in startling disaccordance with its slender aspect, a continual 

 cry oi gra! ^ra! gra! It builds in deep horizontal holes in sandy banks, 

 which it excavates in whole or in part, working vigorously with its feet and bill, 

 and kicking out the dry earth behind it with great perseverance. It lays six or 

 seven eggs, white, lucid, and almost spherical. When the young are partly 

 fledged, but not able to fly, they creep to the mouths of their hole, where they 

 seem to enjoy the happy summer light and genial sunshine; but on the least 

 alarm they retreat, '.aii foremost, into the recesses of their burrow, where they 

 lie concealed. So accustomed do they seem to this peculiar movement, that 

 when taken from the nest and placed in any more exposed position, they en- 

 deavour to escape by running backwards ; indeed, for a time, they seem unable 

 to walk in any other direction. The bee-eaters are exclusively insectivorous, 

 and prey almost entirely upon the hymenopterous tribes. Although they often 

 take their food upon the wing, they also gather it from the ground ; and when- 



