COMMON BEE-EATER. 385 



sometimes being an attendant on the vicinity of. 

 the apiary, has received the name it bears, with 

 the blame of being destructive to Bees. Except 

 in the breeding season, it is said to assemble in 

 troops, but this may perhaps be only at times 

 preparatory to migration. Those killed in this 

 country have been mostly single, except in the 

 instance of a flight of twenty occurring in Norfolk 

 in 1794. Mr Swainson remarks, they annually 

 visit Italy in flocks of twenty or thirty, and may 

 be seen skimming over the vineyards and olive 

 plantations, with a flight much resembling the 

 Swallow, though more direct and less rapid.* 

 They breed in deep holes, excavated in the banks 

 of rivers, the nest being said to be composed of 

 moss and soft materials at the end. The eggs 

 are pure white. 



A specimen from Southern Africa now before 

 us, has the head and back of a deep orange 

 coloured brown, passing into safron yellow on 

 the lower part of the back and rump. The fore- 

 head is white, changing to verdegris green, which 

 again runs in a line over each eye, and shades 

 into the chestnut of the crown ; quills and secon- 

 daries blackish gray on the insides, the tips and 

 shafts appearing black on the outsides. The 

 outer webs bluish green, shading on the inner 

 webs to black. Tail greenish blue, the two centre 

 feathers elongated and narrowed to a point at the 

 ends, which are blackish green. The chin and 

 throat are yellow, surrounded below by a gorget 

 * Lardner, vol. ii. p. 152. 



2B 



