504 RARE BRITISH BIRDS 



is migratory, European birds wintering in Africa, and has been recorded about fifty or sixty times 

 from the British Isles. [F. c. R. J.] 



EAGLE-OWL [Bubo bubo (Linnaeus) ; Bubo igndvus T. Forster. French, grand due ; German, 

 Uhu ; Italian, gufo reale]. 



1. Description. Recognised by its large size. Length 28 in. [711 mm.]. Sexes alike. 

 General colour above brownish black, mottled and freckled with tawny buff; ear-tufts very long 

 (about 3f in. [95 mm.]) and black ; primaries dark brown, barred with buff and freckled with 

 brownish black ; lores and region of eye white ; under parts tawny buff, heavily streaked on the 

 chest, and regularly barred over the remainder of the under parts with black, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. On the Continent the breeding range of this species extends to beyond 

 the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia, and in Russia up to the limits of forest growth. From these 

 limits southward it is found in suitable localities south to the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean, 

 but in the Iberian Peninsula and South-east Russia it is replaced by allied races, and this is 

 also the case in Northern Africa and Asia, from Asia Minor, Palestine, and Transcaspia eastward 

 to Japan. In winter northern birds are to some extent migratory, and there are a good many 

 records from Great Britain, some of which are no doubt due to escapes from captivity. [F. c. R. j.] 



THE ROLLERS 1 



[ORDER : Coraciiformes. FAMILY : Coraciidce] 



[ABYSSINIAN- ROLLER [Cordcias abysslnicus]. Two are said to have been obtained near 

 Glasgow about 1857. Cannot yet be added to the British list. [F. c. R. j.]] 



[INDIAN-ROLLER [Cordcias benghdlensis]. Stated to have been shot in Lincolnshire in 

 1883. Cannot yet be added to the British list. [F. c. R. j.] ] 



THE BEE-EATERS 



[ORDER : Coraciiformes. FAMILY : Meropidce] 



BEE-EATER [Merops apidster Linnaeus. French, guepier vulgaire ; German, europa/ischer 

 Bienenfresser ; Italian, yruccione]. 



1. Description. -Identified by its golden yellow throat and blue under parts. The sexes 

 are the same, excepting that the female is duller in coloration. Adult male, length 11 in. [279 

 mm.]. Base of the forehead white, tinged with green ; head, mantle, back, and primary coverts 

 deep chesnut, darkest on the head; scapulars greenish yellow, washed with chesnut; primaries 

 dark blue, margined on the inner webs with ash-grey ; secondaries chesnut, broadly barred at 

 the tip with black ; tail green, shaded with blue on the inner web ; throat golden yellow, separated 

 from the dark greenish blue under parts by a black collar; lores and ear-coverts black, 

 [w. P. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. In Europe the breeding range of this species includes the Mediterranean 

 islands, the Iberian Peninsula, South France, Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, locally in Hungary, 

 Transylvania, and South-east Galizia, as well as South Russia. It also breeds in Africa north 

 of the Sahara, and in Asia in Transcaspia, Turkestan, and West Siberia, as well as from Palestine 

 and Asia Minor to Kashmir. Its winter quarters are in South and Tropical Africa, where it has 

 been met with, and is said to breed, in Cape Colony, while Asiatic birds winter in North-west 

 India. Exceptionally it has bred in S. Germany, and as a casual it has occurred in Lapland, 



1 Vol. ii. p. 422. 



