66 AIEROPID.E. 
Anclalucia without Bee-eaters would be like Loudon without 
Sparrows. Everywhere they are to be seen ; and their single 
note, teerrp, heard continually repeated, magnifies their 
numbers in imagination. Occasionally they venture into the 
centre of towns when on passage, hovering round the orange - 
trees and flowers in some patio or garden. Crossing the Straits 
for the most part in the early part of the day, flight follows 
flight for hours in succession . When passing at Gibraltar they 
sometimes skim low down to settle for a moment on a bush 
or a tree, but generally go straight on, often almost out of 
sight ; but their cry always betrays their presence in the air. 
My dates of their first arrival noticed are : — the 7th of 
April, 1868; 4th of April, 1869; 1st of April, 1870; 29th 
of March, 1871 ; 26th of March, 1872 ; 28th of March, 1874. 
They were observed passing in great numbers from the 10th 
to the 14th of April in three consecutive years, the greatest 
quantity arriving on the 10th ; so, in Spanish fashion, I 
christened that date " St. Bee-eater's day.'' The latest flight 
I ever saw going north was on the 7th of May. 
Having remained at Gibraltar once only during July and 
August, I had but that opportunity of watching the return 
migration, which appeared during the last week in Jiily and 
also on the 11th and 12th of August, the last being noticed 
on the 29th of that month, all with few exceptions being heard 
passing at night. The first arrivals, as is the case with all 
migrants, are those which remain to breed in the immediate 
neighbourhood. Commencing their labours of excavation 
almost immediately they arrive, the earliest eggs that I 
know of were taken on the 29th of April; but usually 
they do not lay till about the second week in May, often 
not so soon. 
In some places they nest in large colonies ; in others there 
are perhaps only two or three holes. When there are no 
river-banks or barrancos in which to bore holes, they tunnel 
down into the ground, where the soil is suitable, in a vertical 
direction, generally on some slightly elevated mound. 
The shafts to these nests are not usually so long as those 
in banks of rivers, which sometimes reach to a distance of 
