BEE-EATEE. 23 



the end into a receptacle for the nest, which is said to be 

 composed of moss. 



The eggs, which are hatched in May, are glossy white, of 

 a globular form, and five to six or seven in number. 



Male; length, ten to eleven inches; bill, black, long, and 

 curved, with a strong blunt ridge; from its corners a bluish 

 black streak descends to a narrow black ring which encircles 

 the neck; on its upper side it shades into the chesnut of the 

 crown; iris, red, behind it is a small bare brown patch. 

 Forehead, dull white, passing into pale verdigris green; crown 

 and neck, deep orange-coloured brown, tinged with green; 

 nape, the same, but paler; chin and throat, bright yellow; 

 breast, greenish blue; back, above as the nape, below bright 

 yellow, tinged with both chesnut and green. 



The wings reach to within one fourth of the length of the 

 tail, and expand to the width of one foot and a half; greater 

 wing coverts, pale orange, here and there tinged with green; 

 lesser wing coverts, bright green; primaries, narrow and pointed, 

 blackish grey on the inner webs, fine greenish blue on the 

 outer, in some shades greyish blue tips and shafts, black; 

 the first feather is very short, the second the longest in the 

 wing; secondaries, brown, with black tips; tertiaries, as the 

 primaries, on the webs; the shafts of all the quill feathers 

 black; larger and lesser under wing coverts, fawn-colour. Tail, 

 of twelve feathers, greenish blue, with a tinge of yellow; the 

 two middle feathers darker, elongated nearly an inch beyond 

 the rest, and pointed, ending in blackish green; beneath it is 

 greyish brown, the shafts dull white; tail coverts, bluish 

 green with a tinge cf yellow; under tail coverts, as the 

 breast, but paler; legs, very short, reddish brown, scaled finely 

 behind, and strongly in front; toes, the same, scutellated 

 above; the small hind toe is broad on the sole, and the three 

 front ones connected together, as in the Kingfisher; claws, 

 reddish black. 



The plumage of the female is not so bright as that of the 

 male, but less distinctly defined. The throat paler yellow, 

 and the green parts tinged with red. The central tail feathers 

 are shorter than in the male, by two lines. 



In the young male the iris is light red; the black band 

 round the throat is greenish. The middle tail feathers extend 

 but little beyond the rest. 



