THE LONG-TAILED BEE-EATERS. 



55 



blue in front, white behind ; throat bright yellow, with a black 

 band across the lower throat; under surface of body green- 

 ish-blue ; the under wing-coverts and axillaries ochreous-buff, 

 washed with green along the edge of the wing ; quills dusky 

 below, ochreous buff along the inner web ; bill black ; feet 

 greyish-brown; iris lemon-yellow or red. Total length, 10 

 inches; culmen, 1-65; wing, 57; tail, 4-5 ; tarsus, 0-35. 



Adult Female. Like the male, but often washed with green on 

 the head and back. Total length, 9-5 inches ; wing, 5-9. 



Young. Much paler in colour than the adults, and having 

 the under surface of the body much greener, and wanting the 

 black bar across the lower throat ; the eyebrow green ; the 

 upper-parts coloured as in the adults, but much greener, and 

 having a wash of pale green over the whole, including the 

 light parts of the back and scapulars. 



Range in Great Britain. A rare visitor to the south of Eng- 

 land, generally occurring in spring. Mr. Howard Saunders 

 states that over thirty instances have been recorded " south of 

 Derbyshire in England and Pembrokeshire in Wales." In 

 Scotland and the south of Ireland the Bee-Eater has also been 

 noticed on a few occasions, but the bulk of the captures have 

 taken place in England. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Common Bee-Eater 

 visits the whole of Southern Europe in spring, and extends 

 eastwards to Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Cashmere. It 

 breeds throughout the whole of this range, and winters to thq 

 southward, visiting Sind, and the extreme north-western dis- 

 tricts of the Peninsula of India, as well as the countries of the 

 Persian Gulf. It extends its migrations throughout the whole 

 of Africa, and even reaches the Cape Colony, where it is said 

 to breed a second time. 



Habits. This is one of the most brightly coloured birds 

 of Europe, and its brilliant plumage renders it so conspicu- 

 ous that there is little chance of its escaping observation on 

 the rare occasions when it visits this country. In Spain it 

 arrives during the last days cf March and early in April, and 

 Colonel Irby states that, near Gibraltar, Bee-Eaters pass in 

 great numbers from the loth to the i4th of the latter month, 



