CONCEALED OR COVERED NESTS 95 



birds, the Bee-eater seems to prefer to excavate a 

 new residence every season. The long tunnel, which 

 sometimes extends as many as nine feet into a solid 

 earth bank, is chiefly made by the bird's long pointed 

 bill, which, according to Irby, is sometimes worn 

 down to half its usual length by the work ! The feet 

 and claws also assist in the excavation. The tunnel 

 is generally nearly straight and horizontal, but some- 

 times very tortuous, and communicating with other 

 burrows by narrow galleries. Both birds assist in 

 the task, each working in turn. On an average, the 

 passage is three or four feet in length, but sometimes 

 much more. At the end it widens out into a sort of 

 chamber, and here the eggs are laid with no further 

 provision, if we except the wing cases of insects, 

 which form the refuse of the birds' food, which 

 generally surround them as incubation proceeds. 

 In some places where banks are not available, the 

 Bee-eater sinks a nearly perpendicular or oblique 

 shaft into the level ground. The Roller (Coracias 

 garrulus) is said sometimes to burrow into a bank for 

 nesting purposes, but it generally prefers holes in 

 wood, and therefore is more aptly included with the 

 birds mentioned on a future page {conf. p. 120). 

 Some of the Parrakeets (Comcrus) might also be 

 mentioned here as instances of burrowing species 

 did space permit. 



Another remarkable bird coming into the present 

 division of nest builders is the Burrowing Owl (Speotyto 



