56 BIBDS OF TUNISIA 



MEROPS PERSICUS, Pallas. 

 BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATER. 



Merops persicus, Pall. Reis. Buss. Reichs. ii, Anhang, p. 708 (1773) 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvii, p. 66; Whitaker, Ibis, 1898, p. 126 

 Erlanger, J. f. O. 1900, p. 6. 



M. aegyptius, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 91 (1867). 



Description. — Adult, spring, from Gafsa, South Tunisia. 



Forehead white, becoming pale turquoise- blue on the cheeks and over 

 the eyes; remainder of the upper plumage bright glossy-green, slightly 

 washed with blue on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; the two middle 

 rectrices, which project about three inches beyond the others, bronze-green, 

 tipped with blackish-green ; quills also tipped with blackish-green ; a stripe 

 running from the base of the bill below and behind the eye, black ; chin 

 golden-yellow, throat bright chestnut ; I'est of underparts green. 



Iris deep crimson ; bill black ; feet dark brown. 



Total length 12 inches, wing 6'25, culmen 1-50, tarsus "50. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



In Tunisia this Bee-eater appears to have been but seldom 

 observed, and I have never met with it, but a sinj^le specimen from 

 the Regency was given to me by a French innkeeper at Gafsa, who 

 informed me that he had shot the bird in the oasis of that town. He 

 added, moreover, that, although not common in the neighbourhood of 

 Gafsa, the species was to be seen there every year. The only other 

 mention of the occurrence of M. persicus in Tunisia, of which I am 

 aware, is that made by the Italian naturahst, Alessi, who records 

 having met with the species between Nefta and Tozer in the Djerid 

 (J. f. 0. 1892, p. 316). 



In Southern Algeria, on the contrary, this Bee-eater seems to be 

 far from unconunon, having been observed by various ornithologists 

 and travellers in that country. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., met with it 

 at Ghardaia and Mr. C. Dixon observed it at Biskra, while l)r. Koenig 

 found it plentiful in the Algerian Sahara south of this latter town, 

 the species, according to him, being in some districts more numerous 

 than M. apiaster. This being the case, it is difficult to understand 

 why the species should be rare in Southern Tunisia, seeing how 

 common it also is further east ; I am inclined to think that the reason 

 M. persicus has not been more often recorded from the Eegency is 



