96 CORACIAD, 
THE EUROPEAN BEE-EATER. 
Length, 10 to 11; expanse, 17 to 18; wing, 5°5 to 6; tail, 3-75 
to 4°75; tarsus, 0°5 ; bill at front, 1:2. 
Bill black; irides red; legs reddish-brown; forehead pale 
whitish-blue ; body above maroon-red, passing into rufous-yellow 
on the rump ; a black eye-streak from the base of the bill, through 
the eye, nearly meeting another black band which crosses the 
lower part of the throat; chin and throat rich yellow; wings 
blue-green, or greenish blue, with most of the coverts and the 
secondaries chesnut, the latter black tipped, as are the primaries, 
though faintly; tertiaries blue-green ; tail dull green, the tips 
of the centre feathers bluish ; lower parts verdigris-blue. 
Mr. Murray, in his Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, states that the 
European Bee-eater “ occurs as a bird of passage in Sind, Kutch, 
Kattiawar, Rajpootana, and the Deccan.” I have myself never met 
with the bird in India, but further north in Afghanistan, I found it 
very common. 
Genus, Nycticornis, Swainson. 
- Bill moderately long, well curved, strong, compressed ; ridge 
flattened towards the base, with a parallel groove on each side ; 
nostrils concealed by setaceous feathers; wings moderate, full, 
rounded ; fourth quill longest ; tail longish, nearly even ; feet short, 
much as in Merops; plumage lax, soft and dense, with a plume 
of long stiff pectoral feathers differently colored. 
Nycticornis athertoni, Jard. & Selby. 
122.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 211; Butler, Deccan ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 382. 
THE BLUE-NECKED BEE-EATER. 
‘ Length, 14; expanse, 18; wings 5°5; tail 6; bill at front, 1-7; 
tarsus, 0°6. 
Bill bluish-plumbeous, with black tip ; irides deep yellow ; legs 
and feet dusky-greenish. 
General color bright vernal-green, shaded on the belly and 
vent with buff; forehead blue; gular hackles rich ultramarine- 
blue, formed of a double series of long drooping plumes, ranged 
opposite each other or either side of the median line; lining of 
wings, the wings internally, under tail-coverts, and lower surface 
of the tail buff. 
The Blue-necked Bee-eater was obtained by Mr. Laird in the 
forests to the west of Belgaum. This seems to be. the only re- 
corded instance of its occurrence within the district. 
Faminy, Coraciade. 
Bill moderate or rather long, strong, broad at the base, com- 
pressed towards the tip, which is hooked, and sometimes slightly 
notched; the gape is large, with or without rictal bristles; tarsus 
short, stout; feet moderate; toes free, or shghtly syndactyle ; 
