

BULLOCK'S BEE-lE\HER.—Melittophagus Bullockii. 



The upper portions of this species are light green with the exception of the upj^er 

 parts of the neck, which is coloured by a reddish crimson hue, the two tints merging 

 gradually into each other without any definite line of demarcation. From the gape of 

 the mouth a black stripe runs towards the back of the neck, enveloping the eye in its 

 progress, and a small spot of the same jetty hue is seen upon the tip of the chin. The 

 throat is of the most brilliant scarlet, and the breast and upper parts of the abdomen are 

 crimson like the neck. The lower part of the abdomen is clear ultramarine blue, a 

 peculiarity from which the bird derives its popular name. The wings are green like the 

 back, but the secondaries and tertiaries are tipped with velvety black, about haK an inch 

 in depth. The feathers of the tail are of equal length, and the bill and legs are black. 



The last example of the Bee-eaters which can be mentioned in these pages is the 

 Eed-throated Bee-eater [Melittophagus guldris). This bird is remarkable for the 

 singular colouring of its plumage, and the vivid contrasts presented by a few spots of 

 bright colour upon a dark ground. 



The general colour of this species is a diC^ velvety black, through which a green hue 

 shines in certain lights. Upon the forehead and over the eyes are scattered a few tiny 

 but most brilliant verditer-green feathers gleaming with a metallic lustre, and a patch of 

 long plumy feathers of the same brilliant hue occurs on the end of the back. The throat 

 is decorated with a patch of light chestnut-red, and the remainder of the breast and 

 abdomen are of the same deep velvety-black, over which a number of isolated verditer 

 feathers are very thinly scattered. 



