466 MEROPS 



Hob. Southern Europe, rarer in the central and northern 

 parts ; of accidental occurrence in Scandinavia, Great Britain, 

 and Ireland : Canaries, Madeira, and Africa ; Asia Minor and 

 Asia as far east as the Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sind, and the 

 Irtish river in the north. 



Gregarious at all seasons and frequents rivers and plains. In 

 its flight it resembles the Swallow, but is not so active and 

 swift. It feeds on insects of various kinds, bees, wasps, grass- 

 hoppers, locusts, beetles, &c., which it both captures on the 

 wing and picks off trees, bushes, and plants. It usually breeds 

 in the banks of rivers or streams, but sometimes far from water, 

 and burrows a long round hole ending in a chamber about a 

 foot in diameter. I have found their nest-holes burrowed in 

 flat ground away from water. The eggs 5 to 6 in number are 

 usually deposited in May or June, and are placed on the refuse 

 in the nest-chamber, no nest being made. The eggs are 

 roundish, pure glossy white, and measure about 1*2 by 0*9, 

 The usual cry of this bird is harsh and monotonous, but when 

 on the wing it utters a pleasant, subdued, warbling chirp. 



667. BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATER. 

 MEROPS PERSICUS. 



Merops persicus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, ii. Anhang. p. 708 (1773) 

 Dresser, v. p. 165, pi. 296 ; id. Monogr. Merop. p. 63, pi. xvi. ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xvii. p. 66 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iii 

 p. 112 ; M. cegyptius, Forsk, Descr. Anim. Aves, p. 1 (1775) ; Shelley, 

 B. Egypt, p. 170, pi. vii. fig. 1 ; M. savignyi, Audouin expl. somm. 

 p. 371 (1825). 



GuSpier d'Egypte, French ; Gruccione forestiero, Ital. 



( ad. (Egypt). Forehead white passing into blue ; supercilium blue ; 

 upper parts with wings parrot green, tinged with blue on the upper tail- 

 coverts, and with russet on the wings and tail ; a broad black stripe passes 

 from the gape through the eye to the ear, and is margined with white and 

 then blue, passing to green on the cheeks ; chin dark yellow ; throat 

 fox-red ; rest of under parts parrot green ; bill black ; legs dark brown ; 

 iris crimson. Culmen 1*9, wing 6'25, tail 5'3, middle feathers extending 

 1'62 beyond the lateral ones, tarsus '0*5 inch. Sexes alike. 



Hob. Of rare occurrence north of the Mediterranean ; Africa 

 south to Cape Colony ; Asia north to Gurieff in Russia, south 

 to the plains of India, and east to the Bombay Deccan. 



In habits, note, food, and nidification, it does not differ from 

 M. apiaster, and its eggs are also similar. 



