THE BEE-EATERS 



1817 



THE BEE-EATERS 

 Family MEROPID^ 



The bee-eaters constitute a well-marked group confined to the Old World, their 

 place in America being taken by the motmots and jacamars. They have a long 

 and curved bill, with a well-marked ridge along the culmen; the feet are syndactyl- 

 ous, like those of the kingfishers, with the soles very broad, and the third and 



t, -~ 



COMMON BEE-EATER. 

 (Two-fifths natural size.) 



fourth toes united almost for their entire length, while the second is joined to the 

 third for its basal joint only. The tail feathers are ten in number, the palate 

 is bridged (desmognathous), and the breastbone has four notches on its hinder 

 margin; while there are also certain other osteological characteristics distinguishing 

 the group, into the consideration of which it would be out of place to enter here 

 Of the five genera by which the family is represented, two {Meropogon and Nyctior- 

 nis), both of which are Asiatic, are distinguished by a tuft of overhanging plumes 

 on the breast, which are wanting in the other three. Of the latter, the swallow- 



