200 



MEROPID.E. 



INSF.SSORES. 



FISSIROSTRES. 



MEROPID/E. 



THE BEE-EATER. 



Mcr 



>ps apiaster. The Bee-eater, Penn, Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 339. 



Common 

 The 



Common 



The 



Mont. Ornith. Diet. 



Bewick, Brit. Birds, vol.i. p. 150. 



Flem. Brit. An. p. 90. 



Selcy, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 114. 



Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 156. 



Gould, Birds of Europe, pt. ii. 



,, Guepier vidgaire, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. vol. i. p. 420. 



Merops. Generic Characters. — Beak rather long, slender, slightly curved, 

 pointed, the culmen elevated, the edges of the mandibles cutting, entire. 

 Nostrils basal, lateral, oval, partly concealed by hairs directed forwards. 

 Feet with the tarsi short, toes small, three in front, one behind, the outer toe 

 connected to the middle toe as far as the second joint ; the inner toe connected 

 as far as the first joint. Wings long and pointed; the second quill-feather 

 the longest in the wing. 



No specimen of the Common Bee-cater of Africa appears 

 to be recorded to have been killed in EnQ-land till the 



