156 AVES 1NSESSORES. [CORACIAS. 



GEN. 46. CORACIAS, Linn. 



128. C. garrula, Linn. (Garrulous Roller.) Head, 

 neck, and under parts, light bluish green : back and sca- 

 pulars reddish brown. 



C. garrula, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. i. p. 127. Id. torn. in. p. 72. 

 Garrulous Roller, Mont. Orn. Diet. Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 117. 

 pi. 34. Roller, Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 100. 



DIMENS. Entire length twelve inches six lines. MONT. 



DESCRIPT. Head, neck, breast, and belly, verditer blue, inclining to 

 sea-green: back and scapulars reddish brown: lesser wing-coverts rich 

 violet-blue ; greater coverts pale green : rump, and basal portion of the 

 quills, purplish blue ; the tips of the quills dusky : tail somewhat forked ; 

 the outer feather pale ultra-marine blue, tipped with black; the others 

 dusky green, tipped with pale bluish green, the two middle ones excepted, 

 which are dusky throughout : bill black at the tip, yellowish brown at 

 the base : feet yellowish. (Egg.) Smooth, shining white : long. diam. 

 one inch five lines; trans, diam. one inch one line. 



Very rare in this country, and only an accidental visitant. First 

 noticed as a British bird by Pennant, who describes one killed in Corn- 

 wall. Solitary individuals have been since met with in Sussex, Suffolk, 

 Norfolk, Scotland, Northumberland, and Yorkshire. Said to be common 

 in Germany and Sweden, inhabiting large forests. Feeds principally on 

 insects. Builds in the holes of decayed trees, and lays from four to seven 



GEN. 4tf. MEROPS, Linn. 



129. M. Apiaster, Linn. (Common Bee-eater.) Fore- 

 head greenish white ; nape, and upper part of the back, 

 deep chestnut : throat yellow, bounded by a black line. 



M. Apiaster, Temm. Man. d'Orn. tom.i. p. 420. Id. torn. in. p. 293. 

 Sow. Brit. Misc. pi. 69. Common Bee-eater, Mont. Orn. Diet. 

 Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 114. pi. 41. Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 146. 



DIMENS. Entire length eleven inches. TEMM. 



DESCRIPT. Forehead white, passing into bluish green ; crown of the 

 head, nape, and upper part of the back, deep chestnut ; middle and lower 

 regions of the back of a paler chestnut, passing into reddish yellow : from 

 the corner of the bill a black streak passing over the eyes and across the 

 ear-coverts, where it meets another line of black encircling the lower 

 portion of the neck ; throat golden yellow ; the rest of the under parts 

 bluish green : lesser wing-coverts grass-green ; middle portion of the 

 wing brownish red : quills dusky, passing into bluish green on their outer 

 webs: tail greenish blue; the two middle feathers somewhat darker, 

 pointed, and longer than the others by more than an inch : bill black : 

 irides red : feet brown. In the female, the colours are for the most part 

 similar, only paler : the two middle tail-feathers are relatively shorter. 

 (Egg.) Smooth, and white ; nearly round : long. diam. one inch and half 

 a line ; trans, diam. eleven lines. 



Very rarely seen in this country. A flight of about twenty was ob- 

 served near Mattishall in Norfolk, and one killed, in June 1794; since 



