MEROPS BULLOCKOIDES. 99 
94. Merrors NUBICOIDEs. Carmine-throated Bee-eater. 
Plate IV, fig. 2. 
Merops nubicus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 69. 
This is a species seldom met with in collections, and as far as we 
are aware, rarely occurring in the colony itself. M. Jules Verreaux, 
however, informs us that he procured a stray specimen at Genaden- 
hal, near Caledon. The KHditor’s collection contained a single 
specimen from Port Natal, and this is now in the British Museum. 
Mr. Ayres forwarded a specimen from the Transvaal to Mr. Gurney, 
“shot on the Pindais River. about 130 miles to the north of Pot- 
chefstroom, by Mr. Button, who states that there were many of 
them together.” Inthe Zambesi region, according to Dr. Kirk, 
they were rather local both in the Zambesi and Shire, but on the 
former river they were discovered in colonies, tunnelling their 
nests in the river-banks. Mr. Andersson writes :—“I have only 
once observed this species, when a specimen occurred a few days’ 
journey south of the river Okavango: its appearance on the wing 
was beautiful. I understood from the hunters that at certain seasons 
this Bee-eater is common on the Okavango, and breeds on the banks 
of that river.” 
Its large size and ruddy coloration ought to distinguish this 
species at a glance. Unfailing characters are its red tail and pink 
undersurface, in which no other South African Bee-eater resembles 
it. Total length, 13:7 inches; wing, 5°8; tail, 4:4; tarsus, 0°5; 
middle tail-feathers, 7°8. 
95. Merrops BULLOCKOIDES. White-fronted Bee-eater. 
Plate IV, fig. 1. 
This species was originally obtained by Sir A. Smith in 25° §. 
lat., north of which it was not uncommon. “ When observed,” he 
says, “it was perched upon the tops of trees, along the immediate 
banks of rivers, or in the act of making short circuits through the 
air, apparently in chase of flying insects.” Mr. David Arnot, of 
Colesberg, has forwarded several examples to the South African 
Museum, all of which were obtained in the Orange Free State. Mr. 
T. E. Buckley found them breeding in the banks of the Limpopo, 
and in the Transvaal he also procured specimens on the 1st and 2nd 
of July ; and in the same district Mr. Ayres has noticed them. He 
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