BEE-EATERS. 53 



THE BEE-EATERS. 

 Family MEROPID^;. 



The bee-eaters constitute a well-marked group confined to the Old World, 

 their place in America being taken by the motmots and jacamars. They have a 

 long and curved bill, with a well-marked ridge along the culmen ; the feet are 

 syndactylous, like those of the kingfishers, with the soles very broad, and the third 



COMMON BEE-EATER (f nat. size). 



and fourth toes united almost for their entire length, while the second is joined to 

 the third for its basal joint only. The tail-feathers are ten in number ; the palate 

 is bridged (desmognathous) ; and the breast-bone has four notches on its hinder 

 margin ; while there are also certain other osteological characters distinguishing 

 the group, into the consideration of which it would be out of place to enter here. 

 Of the five genera by which the family is represented, two (Meropogon and 

 Nyctiornis), both of which are Asiatic, are distinguished by a tuft of overhanging 

 plumes on the breast, which are wanting in the other three. Of the latter, the 

 swallow-tailed bee-eaters (DicTirocercus) and square-tailed bee-eaters (Melittophagus) 

 are confined to Africa, while the true bee-eaters (Merops) inhabit all the four great 

 continents of the Old World. As a rule, the bee-eaters lay glossy white eggs in a 



