Bee-eaters 499 



says Colonel Legge, " and is very arboreal in its habits, sitting on the topmost 

 or most outstretching branches of trees overhanging water, and darting thence 

 on its prey, and is a pretty object, with its bright green plumage and glistening 

 rufous head, as it darts from the fine old trees lining the forest rivers down to 

 the edge of the sparkling stream, and glides over the sandy bed, quickly catching 

 up some passing insect." The nesting burrows, always made by the birds them- 

 selves, are in a bank and extend to a depth of from eighteen inches to nearly 

 seven feet, the tunnel often turning abruptly in its course and being enlarged 

 at the end into a chamber some six inches in diameter. The eggs, three to five 

 in number, are placed on the bare earth. 



True Bee-eaters. The true Bee-eaters (M crops) differ from the last in hav- 

 ing a relatively longer, pointed wing in which the second quill is longest, and 

 in having the two central tail-feathers elongated and pointed; they are also 

 somewhat larger in size. Of the twenty-one species now recognized a majority 

 are found in the Ethiopian region, while the others are widely scattered over 

 the southern Palasarctic region and the Indo-Malayan and Australian regions. 

 The European or Common Bee-eater (M. apiaster) is one of the best known, 

 being about ten and a half inches long, and very handsome in rich chestnut, 

 blue, green, yellow, and black, and, as Mr. Dresser well says, "is certainly one 

 of the most brilliantly colored and conspicuous of European birds; and in the 

 rich sunshine of the south there are few more beautiful sights than a flock of 

 these birds hawking after insects." They are gregarious at all seasons and 

 are quite Swallow-like in appearance when on the wing, as they hawk after insects. 

 Their burrows are usually excavated in a bank, but occasionally in flat ground 

 away from water. Among the most brilliant members of the genus are the 

 Green-throated and Carmine-throated Bee-eaters (M. nubicus and M. nubi- 

 coides), the first of northern tropical, and the latter of South Africa. In the 

 Green-throated the head and throat are bluish green, the back and under parts 

 generally a rich, deep rosy red or pale carmine with a tinge of vermilion, while 

 the wings are dull red washed with green, the rump and upper and under tail- 

 coverts rich blue, and the long tail dull red. The Carmine-throated is slightly 

 larger than the other and is similar in coloration except that the entire chin and 

 throat are a rich, bright red. Their habits are in accord with those of their 

 relatives. 



Plumed Bee-eaters. In the preceding genera the feathers of the breast 

 are of ordinary form, but in the two remaining genera the breast plumes are 

 broad, elongated, and pendent, producing a very elegant appearance. Of these 

 Forsten's Bee-eater (Meropogon forsteni), the sole representative of its genus, 

 is confined to Celebes. It is largely green above with the forehead, throat, and 

 breast a deep, glossy cobalt-blue, while the hinder crown, nape, neck, and lower 

 abdomen are blackish brown; the central pair of tail-feathers are elongated as 

 in Merops. This species, according to Dr. A. B. Meyer, who wrote some thirty 

 years ago, frequents the higher trees in the densest forests, and although it is not 

 often seen, it is hardly rare in suitable locations. 



Bearded Bee-eaters. Quite similar to the last as regards the breast plumes, 



