BEE- EATER. ROLLER. 105 



SUB-ORDER FISSEROSTRES (WIDE-MOUTHED 



BIRDS). 



FAMILY XIX. MEROPID.E (BEE-EATERS). 



GENUS LIT MEROPS (BEE-EATERS). 



SPECIES 103 THE BEE-EATER. 



Merops apiaster. Linn. 

 Guepier vulgaire. Temm. 



THIS beautiful and rare visitant has only occurred in four or 

 five instances, the greater proportion of which were obtained 

 during the summer months. One of these, in the collec- 

 tion of the author, was procured in the summer of 1848, in 

 the county of Wexford. The gentleman who obtained it 

 stated he had seen it frequenting his garden for some five or 

 six days, and that it became quite remarkable to the gardener 

 and workmen for the unusual brilliancy of its colours, for 

 which reason they named it a foreign kingfisher. Like the 

 habits of the species in its own country, he believed it to have 

 been more free than he had wished with his bees.* 



It is a matter worthy of remark that the eggs of this spe- 

 cies resemble those of the hoopoe ; and that most of those 

 birds of brilliant plumage have eggs of the same glossy satin - 

 like colour, and in some cases transparent white, which dis- 

 tinguish those of the kingfisher and the roller. 



Habitat Northern Africa. 



GENUS LIII. CORACIUS (ROLLER). 



SPECIES 104 THE ROLLER. 



Coracius garrula. Linn. 

 Rollier vulgaire. Temm. 



THE ROLLER is another of those elegantly shaped and plu- 

 maged birds which favour our isle with a rare visit. Of larger 

 proportions than any of those occasional visitants, the roller 

 somewhat resembles the bee -eater in the general distribution 

 of its colours. The first and only specimen of this bird ever 

 obtained in Ireland, we had the pleasure of examining in Mr. 

 Glennon's establishment, on the 8th of October, 1849. It was 

 an adult male, and was obtained by the Earl of Courtown's 

 gamekeeper, in the county of Wexford. By that nobleman 

 it has since been presented to the Museum of Irish Industry, 



* Mr. Glennon. 



