MEBOPS APIASTER 55 



the sweet scented blossoms. Bees seem to be the principal prey of 

 this species, aud there is no doubt that the birds devastate many a 

 hive, although they also feed on other winged insects. So bold are 

 they at times in the pursuit of their prey, that they will actually 

 enter a house where hives are kept, and capture the bees, as it were, 

 on their very threshold. I recollect on one occasion, when watching 

 some Bee-eaters at Gafsa, an Ai-ab boy offering to bring me some of 

 the birds alive. True to his word, the urchin appeared the following 

 morning with a dozen or more live Bee-eaters, which greatly to the 

 lad's surprise, I forthwith proceeded to set at liberty. It seems the 

 boy's parents kept bee-hives in a room in their house, and by leaving 

 the door of this room wide open, the birds had been enticed to enter, 

 and then secured by closing the door on them. 



The Bee-eater breeds as a rule in colonies, depositing its eggs in 

 holes bored in the ground ; the nesting season generally commences 

 about the beginning of May, and is continued throughout June. Mr. 

 Aplin found the species breeding in the neighbourhood of Ghardimaou 

 in North Tunisia, during the month of May, most of the birds seeming 

 to prefer the high perpendicular cliffs for this purpose, but he also 

 dug out a nest with five fresh eggs from the bank of a dry water- 

 course, only about two and a half feet in height. 



The holes sometimes extend a long way into the ground, occa- 

 sionally as much as nine feet or more, and when cliffs or banks are 

 not available, the holes are bored diagonally, or even vertically, into 

 the ground. The amount of labour required for the excavation of 

 some of these shafts or tunnels must be great, and the bills of the 

 poor birds seem often to be worn down considerably in consequence. 

 Old holes, however, appear to be sometimes used for nesting purposes. 

 The eggs, of which five or six form the usual complement, are laid on 

 the bare ground at the extremity of the shaft, and are often sur- 

 rounded by an accumulation of insects' wings and other similar 

 matter. The eggs are glossy pure white, as a rule very round in 

 shape, and measure on an average 25 x 20 mm. Occasionally, 

 however, eggs are to be met with of a more elongate shape. 



