66 MEROPID^S DICROCEECUS 



except the central ones dusky subterminally and white at the tips ; 

 below, like the back, chin and throat a bright yellow, followed by a 

 narrow transverse band of bright blue ; a black band through the 

 eye extending over the ear-coverts ; under wing-coverts and under 

 surface of the quills pale chestnut, under tail-coverts cobalt ; under 

 surface of tail dusky. 



Iris crimson ; bill black ; legs and feet brown. 



Length 8*75 ; wing 3-80; tail 2-8, to end of outer tail-feather 

 4-0 ; culmen 1-10 ; tarsus 0'30. 



The female resembles the male, but is slightly smaller ; 

 wing 3-70. 



Young birds have no yellow or blue on the throat, though the 

 tail is forked throughout life. 



Distribution. From the valley of the Orange Eiver and Natal 

 northwards throughout Bechuanaland, the Transvaal, Ehodesia, 

 and German south-west Africa, but everywhere a somewhat 

 scarce bird. North of the Zambesi it occurs in Angola, Nyasa- 

 land, and German east Africa, but is replaced in west and north- 

 east Africa by another though closely allied species. 



The following are localities : Cape Colony Upington on the 

 Orange Eiver (Bradshaw), Colesberg (Ortlepp) ; Natal (British 

 Museum) ; Transvaal Potchefstroom (Ayres) ; Bechuanaland 

 Bamangwato (Holub), Lake Ngami (Chapman) ; Ehodesia Panda- 

 matenka, near Victoria Falls (Oates), Salisbury (Marshall), Ft. 

 Chiquaqua (Sowerby) ; German south-west Africa Otjimbinque 

 (Andersson), Omaruru (Eriksson). 



Habits. The Swallow-tailed Bee-Eater is a resident bird in 

 most of the localities where it occurs, though Andersson found 

 it more numerous in Damaraland in the rainy season. 



Everyone remarks it as a rare bird, generally seen singly or in 

 pairs. Unlike other Bee-Eaters it is often found far away from 

 water, generally perched on low trees or bushes in open spaces in 

 forest. As is the case with all this group of birds the food con- 

 sists of insects of various kinds, blue-bottles, grasshoppers, and 

 hymenoptera have been noted; these are usually caught on the 

 wing, though sometimes taken from leaves and flowers. These Bee- 

 Eaters hawk over trees in search of their prey, but do not fly so high 

 as other species. 



The only observations on the nesting habits of this species are 

 by Andersson, he found a nest on the Omaruru river on October 31. 

 It was at the end of a horizontal passage, about three feet long, in 



