GREEN- THROATED BEE-EATER. 83 



three others, under the common name of Merops 

 indicus^ and yet not one of the descriptions will at all 

 apply exclusively to our bird. Without, however, 

 troubling the reader with all the details, we can 

 safely assert that it is not the bird so named by 

 Edwards, whose figure and description is the origi- 

 nal authority for the Merops indicus of Linnaeus, 

 Latham, and all subsequent writers. This will be 

 abundantly obvious to all who go back to this 

 authority, and there compare the birds that have 

 been assimilated to that of Edwards. These errors, 

 by being copied and recopied by each succeeding 

 compiler, do more to retard our knowledge of species 

 than if the birds had never been recorded. They 

 make error, as it were, perpetual. In cases like 

 these, our only plan is to begin anew, and after 

 retaining the specific name of indicus to the bird 

 figured by Edwards, describe all others that will 

 not accord therewith as separate species. 



We received this Merops, so far as we can re- 

 collect, with several other Senegal birds ; but having 

 lost our notes upon it, we would wish this locality 

 to be considered as doubtful. 



Size small, not much exceeding M. erythropte- 

 rus; the general colour, both above and below, is 

 a uniform pea-green, having a golden or yellow 

 gloss in certain lights, particularly on the nape and 

 sides of the head, originating from the feathers, in 

 these parts, being ferruginous at their base ; this 

 fulvous tinge is likewise, as in many others of the 

 genus, very strong on the quills and tail. Chin, 



