358 Mr. G. A. K. Marshall ooi Birds as a Factor in the 



deliberately at a Bdenois (of which the rapid erratic 

 flight must be very puzzling to a bird) and miss it. 

 I have noticed the same difficulty on the part of 

 Dicrurus afer" ("Ibis," 1908, p. 398). 



19. Merops apiaster, L. (European Bee-Eater), (ci) I have 



recently received from Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton the 

 two front wings of an Hesperid (either a Baoris or 

 PlatyUschcs), which were taken from a stomach of 

 this bird near Chirinda (3500 ft.), Gazaland, on 

 March 26, 1907. — Qi) "I have found a specimen of 

 Mylotliris agatliina in the crop of the common ' Abel- 

 haruco ' {Merops ajnaster) " : Dr. F. Creighton Well- 

 mann, " Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg.," 1908, p. 148 (Angola). 



20. Merops nuhicoides, Desm. and P. (Carmine-throated Bee- 



Eater). Mr. C. H. B. Grant has kindly supplied me 

 with the two following observations noted in his diary 

 when in S.E. Africa. — (a) " Near Beira (Jan. 1907) I 

 saw three of these birds together perched on the top 

 of a dead tree, and when walking up to shoot them I 

 distinctly saw one fly out and take a brown butter- 

 fly that was passing." — (&) " When travelling up the 

 Zambesi from Tambara to Tette (Aug. 1907), a small 

 flock of these birds was hawking over the water, and 

 twice or three times I saw them catch white butter- 

 flies, of which there were quite a number about." 



21. Merops sp. "All kinds of insects form the prey of 



these birds. Once I shot one with its mouth so 

 stuffed with butterflies that it appeared to me 

 marvellous that it had not choked " : Capt. Boyd 

 Alexander, "From the Niger to the Nile," vol. ii, 

 p. 29 (N. Nigeria). [The bird was doubtless collect- 

 ing food for its young, G. A. K. M.] 



22. Meropts hoehmi, Reichen. (Bohm's Bee-Eater). " 15, 



viii, 1908. Saw a Boehm's Bee-Eater make one or 

 two attempts to catch butterflies, chiefly Pierines, but 

 did not see him actually take one " : S. A. Neave 

 (note from diary ; N.E. of Like Bangweolo). 

 25. Mdittop)hagus meridionalis, Sharpe (Little Bee-Eater). — 

 {a) " I noticed one bird catch a white butterfly, but 

 small coleopterous insects seem to form the chief 

 part of their prey." Dr. A. Stark, in Stark and 

 Sclater's " Birds of S. Africa," iii, p, 69 (Natal). — 

 (1)) Mr. Swynnerton has sent me the stomach of one 

 of these birds which he shot in Melsetter District, 



