:J7i) 



BEE-EATER. 



heavier than the other, bring it to tlie ground. These 

 circumstances, especially those of the bee-cater and 

 tlie swallow, show how very slight a resistance can 

 make even a bird of powerful flight lose command oi 

 itself when on the wing ; and the consideration ol 

 them may well heighten our admiration of that dex- 

 terity with which birds, as they fly along, avoid, and 

 that apparently without an effort, those numerous 

 obstacles which are in their way. 



Merops apiaster. 



Merops Castaneus of some authors. This name has 

 been given to two distinct species or varieties, or the 

 one species has been found in two places pretty far dis- 

 tant from each other, and varying considerably in size. 

 One of these is named " Adanson's bee-eater," and is 

 found on the Senegal and Gambia, in Western Africa. 

 It is said to be sixteen inches long ; to have the bill 

 black, and the head red. The upper part of the body 

 reddish-brown ; the under part, the rump, and the 

 lesser coverts, sea-green ; the throat, the sides of the 

 neck, and the breast, bright blue green ; the quills 

 green ; the upper coverts of the wings blue, and the 

 under ones ash-colour : the two middle feathers of 

 the upper coverts being two inches longer than the 

 others, and having their tips black. 



The other has been described as the " Mauritius 

 bee-eater," and is found in that island. It is much 

 smaller than the former, being only eleven inches in 

 length. Its colours are described as being almost 

 exactly the same. 



Many of the African species are of much smaller 

 dimensions. Among these are the 



ANGOLA BEE-EATER (Merops Angolensis], which, 

 as its name implies, is found in Angola. Its length 

 is about five inches and a half. Its colours are, 

 golden-green on the upper part, and sea-green on the 

 under. The neck and throat rich reddish-brown ; 

 eye-streak ash-colour, dotted with black ; quills and 

 coverts green on the upper side, and ash-colour on 

 the under ; the bill ash-colour, and the feet black. 



TWO-COLOURED BEE-EATER (Merops tricolor). 

 About the same size as the preceding ; having the 

 upper part reddish-ash, and the under part red. The 

 eye-streak brown, the cheeks and sides of the head 

 pure white; the wing-coverts black ; the quills blackish- 

 brown on the upper sides, and ash-coloured on the 

 under. The bill and feet black. 



BULLOCK'S BEE-EATER (Merops Buttackn), of which 

 a figure is annexed, is also about the same size. The 

 upper part is green mixed with fawn colour, in 

 clouds or spots ; and the under part brown. The 

 crown of the head blue ; the nape of the neck fawn- 

 colour ; the eye-streak black, and very conspicuous. 



The neck red ; and the belly and under tail-coverts 

 blue. The bill and feet black. 



There are ten or a dozen other species, nearly of 

 the same size, but differing considerably in their 

 colours and marking, described as inhabiting different 

 parts of Africa and the larger African islands ; but it 

 does not appear that they have any peculiarities of 

 character which can render them interesting as sub- 

 jects for popular description. 



The physical circumstances of Africa make it pecu- 

 liarly favourable for these birds, and indeed for all 

 birds which have the power and the habit of ranging 

 to considerable distances in search of their food, so 

 as that when it fails in one place they can seek after 

 it in another. Countries in which the rivers flow 

 among mountainous ridges and with rapid courses, so 

 as not to flood their banks, do not suit these bank- 

 inhabiting birds. Their favourite localities are in 

 those places where the floods, during the rains, fill 

 the entire cnannel, and back water stands in pools 

 behind those natural dykes which such rivers gene- 

 rally form for themselves. The mud on the banks 

 and in the bottoms of those hollows where the water 

 stagnates is just the proper nidus for very many 

 species of insects ; and when it becomes hot during 

 the warm season, and approaches to dryness, it 

 becomes literally alive with larvae, which are very 

 speedily on the wing. The same heat, too, and the 

 same moisture upon which that heat acts, call up, in 

 very brief space, an exuberant vegetation, which is 

 in full flower in shorter time than is required by the 

 lagging vegetation of our moderately-working climate 

 to cover the clods. Thus as the dry season sets in, 

 in such situations, a plenteous supply of insect food 

 and insects, both of the kinds which gnaw the leaf 

 and which suck nectar from the flower, is produced 

 so rapidly, that to us, who are accustomed to watch 

 the slow progress of the season for months, it would 

 appear like magic. To-day the surface is a lake ; 

 one week passes, and it is sludgy mud, heaving with 

 the motions of millions of living things ; another 

 week, and it is a flowery meadow, the air over which 

 is literally cumbered with little wings. It is then 

 high feasting-time with the insectivorous birds; and so 

 rich is this feast on the banks of the African rivers, 

 that all the migrant tribes which make Europe lively 

 with their activity, and joyant with their songs during 

 ;he summer, congregate to partake of it. Theswal- 

 ow from our -chimneys, the martin from our sand- 

 janks, the swift from our towers, the cuckoo from our 

 thickets, the nightingale from our groves, and many 

 others, turn their wings on the southern shores of 

 England, and then onward with rapid flight to the 

 Senegal, the Gambia, the Niger, or the Congo, there 

 to wanton under an ardent sun, and fare sumptuously 

 ipon the fruits of an all-teeming earth, while with us 

 ;he bud is wrapped up in its winter tunics, and the 

 nsect is in an egg so small and so well-concealed 

 hat it eludes the microscopic ken of the titmouse. 

 There they meet with birds of southern Africa and of 

 western Asia, all intent in the following of their own 

 nstincts, and all at peace with each other ; and while 

 the rays of the sun, striking perpendicularly down- 

 ward, heat the earth like an oven, the air, which 

 might else breed putridity and death upon the surface, 

 s literally winnowed into healthy motion by the ope- 

 ration of wings. 



All the great rivers of Africa, with the exception 

 jerhaps of the Congo, have this character. The 



