BEE-EATEES. 



Ill 



time to time arrived at the Berlin Gardens ; the last of 

 these is said to have been fed upon worms, beetles, 

 moths, a little meat and egg, but the latter very 

 rarely. 



CARTAGENIAN MOTMOT (Momotus siibrufescens). 



Differs from the preceding in being smaller ; the band 

 on crown silvery blue becoming purplish at the union 

 on the neck ; sides and back of neck chestnut, spread- 

 ing over the mantle ; green of upper surface paler and 

 more huffish ; under surface cinnamon reddish with a 

 little green on the throat; irides rich brownish red. 

 Hab., " From Panama to Colombia and Venezuela, 

 south to Matto Grosso." (Sharpe.) 



There is a good illustration of this bird in the " Cata- 

 logue of Birds in the British Museum," Vol. XVII., 

 Plate X., fig. 1. Mr. W. Goodfellow, in a paper 

 describing a journey through Colombia and Ecuador 

 (The Ibis, 1902, p. 210), says of Momotits subrufes- 

 cens : " Fairly numerous on the edges of the _ forest 

 around the Indians' clearings. They sit so motionless 

 and flat on the branches that they may be easily over- 

 looked." This is all I have come across respecting the 

 wild life. An example was purchased by the London 

 Zoological Society in July, 1860, and, " according to 

 Russ, this is the only instance known of its importation ; 

 still, a second reached our Gardens in 1890, and now 

 that we have been receiving birds more freely from 

 Venezuela, it is quite likely to be imported again ; the 

 only drawback is that, in 'spite of their great beauty, 

 the Motmots appear to spend a great part of their time, 

 In an aviary, in swinging their tails rythmically like the 

 pendulum of a clock ; this, of course, is not especially 

 entertaining to the owner of a bird. 



BEE-EATERS (Meropida). 



This is an old-world family of very beautiful birds, 

 related to the Rollers, Kingfishers, Motmots, and 

 Jacamars. The species are brightly coloured, graceful, 

 active, subsisting upon insects wh'ich they capture on 

 the wing. Thev have long, curved, slender bills and 

 short feet ; their flight is light, swift, and pleasing to 

 look at ; they nest in burrows made by the birds them- 

 selves, usually in banks or cliffs, and their eggs are 

 somewhat rounded, pure white, and glossy. 



The European species only has been kept in captivity 

 in this country, but on the Continent two other species 

 have come into the bird market. They are not easy to 

 keep, and have not yet been bred. Mr. Reginald 

 Phillipps, in an article upon two young examples of the 

 Common Bee-eater which he kept (The Avicultural 

 Magazine, First Series, Vol. "VIII.), says that he fed 

 his birds upon carefully-scraped cooked meat, egg- 

 flake, occasionally sultanas or grapes cleaned and cut 

 up, cockroaches and other insects. 



AUSTRALIAN BEE-EATER (Merops ornatus}. 



Above buffish-green ; lower back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts sky-blue, deepest on the laet mentioned, but 

 with paler edges ; greater wing-coverte rufous ediged 

 with green ; flights fawn colour, green externally, bluish 

 towards distal extremities and tipped with black ; inner 

 secondaries sky-blue ; tail black, outer webs narrowly 

 edged with green ; back of crown and nape shaded with 

 orange-rufous ; a narrow, pale green eyebrow stripe ; 

 lores and a broad band enclosing the eye and ear-coverts, 

 black, followed by a line of blue along the cheeks ; 

 the latter and the throat yellow, shading into chestnut 

 at centre of the latter, and followed by a broad black 



band across the lower throat; remainder of under- 

 surface yellowish-green, becoming more emerald-tinted 

 on the abdomen ; under tail-coverts blue ; under wing- 

 coverts fawn ; bill black ; feet mealy greenish-grey ; 

 irides pale brownish-red. Female rather smaller. Hab., 

 " Australia and the Papuan Islands and' Moluccas to 

 Celebes, Flores, and Lomibock." (Sharpe.) 



Gould says ("Handbook to the Birds of Australia," 

 Vol. L, p. 118) : " Its favourite resorts during the 

 day are the open, arid, and thinly-timbered forests ; and 

 in the evening the banks and sides of rivers, where 

 numbers may frequently be seen in company. It almost 

 invariably selects a dead or leafless branch whereon 

 to perch, and from which it darts forth to capture the 

 passing insects. Its flight somewhat resembles that of 

 the Artami, and, although it is capable of being sus- 

 tained for some time, the bird more frequently per- 

 forms short excursions, and returns to the branch it 

 had left. 



"The eggs are deposited and the young reared in 

 holes made in the sandy banks of rivers or any similar 

 situation in the forest favourable for the purpose. The 

 entrance is scarcely larger than a mouse-hole, and is 

 continued for a yard in depth, at the end of which is 

 an excavation of sufficient size for the reception of the 

 four or five beautiful pinky-white eggs, which are 

 ten lines long by eight or nine lines broad. 



' ' The stomach is tolerably muscular, and the food 

 consists of various insects, principally Coleoptera and 

 Neuroptera." 



Thds species reached the Amsterdam Zoological Gar- 

 dens in 1864, but appears not to have been imported 

 subsequently. 



COMMON INDIAN BEE-EATER (Merops viridis). 



Above bright grass-green, ruddy golden at base of 

 fea there, which becomes more pronounced on naipe and 

 hind neck ; inner secondaries and upper tail -coverts 

 slightly washed with blue ; remaining flights reddish- 

 buff, edged externally with green and tipped with 

 dusky :bi<ack ; central tail-feathers witih the elongated 

 portion dusky "black, remaining feathers fawn-lbuffish on 

 inner webs ; head more golden-green than the back ; an 

 emerald-green eyebrow -stripe ; lores and a broad band 

 enclosing the eye and ear-coverts black ; sides of face 

 washed with blue at base of cheeks aind below the black 

 ear-stripe ; under surface yellowish-green, .becoming more 

 emerald on breast and abdomen ; a itransiveree blue- 

 black band across fore-neck; a patch of silky-white 

 feathers on each side of the vent ; under wing-oo>vente 

 and lining of flights fawn-fouff ; bill ibliack, witlh brown 

 tomium ; feet pinky-grey, claws horn colour ; eyelids 

 smoky brown ; irides bright red. Female with the blue 

 on sides of face a little less pronounced. Hab., Egypt 

 and .North-East Africa, extending to Senegambia, east- 

 wards through. Persia and Baluchistan, over Continental 

 India southwards to Ceylon, and eastwards to Burma 

 and Cochin China. 



Jerdon says ("Birds of India," Vol. I., pp. 205, 206) : 

 " Itt ie a very common bird, and is a most charaoteriisftac 

 adjunct of Indian scenery. It generally hunts, like the 

 Flycatchers, from a fixed station, which may be the top 

 branch of a high tree, or a shrub, or hedge, a bare pole, 

 a stalk of grain or grass, some old 'building, very com- 

 monly the telegraph wires, or even a mound of earth 

 on the plain. Here it sits looking eagerly around, and 

 on. spying a-n insect, which it can do a long way off, 

 starts rapidly, and captures it on the wing with a 

 distinctly audible snap of its bill ; it then returns to 

 its perch, generally slowly sailing with outspread wings, 

 the copper burnishing of the head and wings shining 



