222 



MEROPID^E. 



colour ; under surface of wing and tail-feathers, greyish 

 brocoli brown ; legs, toes, and claws, small, and reddish 

 brown. 



Whole length to the end of the elongated tail-feathers 

 eleven inches. From the carpal joint to the end of the 

 wing, five inches and three-quarters : the first feather very 

 short, the second the longest in the wing. 



Females are not so bright in colour as the males, the yel- 

 low on the throat is paler, and the green colour tinged with 

 red. 



Mr. Hale's bird is in the plumage of the second year, in 

 which the brown colour, which commences on the head, 

 does not descend below the neck on to the back as in the 

 older bird, and the whole of the back is greenish yellow 

 where the adult bird is saffron yellow. 



A young bird of the year, in my own collection, has the 

 top of the head green, with a small patch of reddish brown 

 above each eye ; no red colour on the back ; the yellow on 

 the throat does not terminate with a dark band, and the 

 tail-feathers are even at the end. 



Underneath are representations of the foot and breast- 

 bone of the Bee-eater. 



