BLUE-HEADED, OR RED BEE-EATER. 



Merops c&ruleocephalus, LATHAM. 

 PLATE IX. 



Red ; brighter beneath ; head, rump, and tail-covers, blue ; 

 two middle tail-feathers long and pointed. 



Le Guepier rose a tete bleue, Le Vaill. pi. 3. Merops super- 

 bus, Pennant, Ind. ZooL 9 sup. 33 ; Gen. Zool. viii. 161 ; Nat. 

 Afis. pi. 78. Merops caeruleocephalus, Auct.^ PI. Enl. 649 ; 

 (Lath. Gen. Sy. ii. 680 ; Gen. Hist. iv. 139.) 



THIS is in all probability the bird described by the 

 Linneean writers here quoted, although the length is 

 stated to be only nine inches. We are also inclined 

 to believe it the same as the blue-headed merops of 

 our catalogues, figured, however badly, in the 640th 

 plate of the Planches Enl. ; the only essential differ- 

 ence between the two, being, that the latter has not 

 the two middle tail-feathers elongated. Latham's 

 description, however, of his Blue-headed Bee-eater 

 is stated to be made up from a drawing by Bruce 

 (who was no ornithologist), and is quite different 

 from the bird of Buffon. The elongation of the two 

 middle tail-feathers is either a sexual distinction, or 

 is a mark of the season of breeding. 



This is a very striking species; the red of its 

 plumage is of a bright brick-dust colour above, but 



