84 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



other's course, rising and sinking on facile wing, wheeling swift- 

 ly, as some more active insect strives to escape from the lovely 

 destroyers, and ever and anon shooting with arrowy speed as 

 their ruby -cinctured eyes catch a glance of some distant prey. 

 Were it not for their harsh, screaming notes, they would seem 

 almost too beautiful to belong to this world. The splendor of 

 their plumage is quite tropical, and though the Bee-eater may 

 not possess the metallic radiance of the humming-bird, the ex- 

 treme beauty of the silken plumage, which shines in the sun- 

 beams like spun glass, can not be surpassed, and is far too subtle 

 to be approached by human art. The greatest master of the 

 brush, aided by all the resources of the chemist, can do no more 

 than indicate the wondrous beauty of this bird. 



The bird does not restrict itself to insects. My friend, E. Ar- 

 nold, Esq., tells me that in India he has seen the Bee-eater catch 

 and devour small fish equal in dimensions to the well-known 

 minnow of England. These fish are eaten by human beings as 

 well as by birds, and seem to be intermediate between the smelt 

 and the white-bait. Among the residents they are known by the 

 quaint name of ■' Havildar-and-ten," because a dish consists of 

 eleven or twelve fishes. In the Indian army the Havildar is 

 equivalent to our sergeant, and has ten men under him, so that 

 a " Havildar-and-ten" signifies a sergeant and his guard, making- 

 altogether eleven men. The external resemblance between the 

 Bee-eater and the kingfisher is patent to all, in spite of the short, 

 clumsy-looking body and stunted tail of the one, and the slight, 

 elegant form and lengthened tail of the other ; and it is sufficient- 

 ly curious, that a light and airy bird, like the Bee-eater, which 

 feeds upon the most active insects, and catches them on the wing, 

 should invade the realms of the kingfisher, and procure a meal 

 from the water. 



Near the spot where the Bee-eater hovers about in search of 

 its daily food, the nest may be found. 



As the bird is generally as gregarious in its nesting as in its 

 flight, there is little difficulty in finding the locality in which it 

 has formed its temporary home. The Bee -eater is one of the 

 true burrowers, excavating a hole in some bank, and depositing 

 its eggs therein. The burrow is not a deep one, seldom exceed- 

 ing a foot in length, so that the sitting bird is plainly visible 

 from the exterior. The extremity of the hole is floored and par- 

 tially lined with moss, upon which are placed five or six eggs, of 



