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MEROPS SUPERCILIOSUS. 97 
have been recorded with the actual-dates of capture, shew that it is 
only during the months when it is absent from Europe that it visits 
South Africa, and hence the fact of its breeding during its stay is of 
great interest. Victorin procured it in the Karroo in January; Dr. 
Exton shot a specimen at Kanye, and on the 24th of October, 1873, 
Mr. T. E. Buckley shot two specimens near the River Meathly in 
Bamangwato: It does not seem to have occurred to Mr. Ayres in 
Natal, but Mr. Andersson states that it is “ very common in Ondonga 
during the rainy season, when it is also not uncommon in Damara Land 
proper :” he considers it to be less abundant in Great Namaqua Land. 
Senor Anchieta has met with the species on the River Cunene, and also 
at Caconda in Benguela, while the British Museum contains an example 
from the Congo, without, however, any indication of the collector. 
It hawks after flies, uttering its cheerful, chirruping cry, and 
alighting on the summit of the highest bush in the neighbourhood. 
It breeds in the neighbourhood of Nel’s Poort, Mr. Henry Jackson 
having found several nests in holes in banks. The eggs are pure 
white: axis, 12’’’; diam. 10’. We also found it breeding in great 
abundance at the Berg river in September and October.. It does 
not always select a bank into which to bore the hole destined for its 
nest, for we found one flat piece of sandy ground perforated with 
numberless holes into which the birds were diving and scrambling 
like so many rats. 
This species is of large size: Total length, 11:5 inches; wing, 5:9; 
culmen, 1°4; tarsus, 0°45. It is distinguished from the other Bee- 
eaters of South Africa by its yellow forehead and throat, and by its 
straw-coloured scapulars. 
Fig. Gould, B, Gt. Brit. pl. 
93. Mbrors supPERciLiosus. Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. 
Merops savignii and M. cegyptius, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 69. 
Notwithstanding the difference in the shades of blue and green 
which are to be found in a series of skins of this Bee-eater, we 
believe that but one species is represented: the brown head which 
is sometimes seen, more especially in Madagascar birds, is often to 
be noticed in specimens from other parts of Africa, and these brown- 
headed individuals occur along with green-headed specimens, so that 
they are probably nothing but immature birds. 
H 
