Bee-Eater. INSESSORES. MEROPS. 115 



tour and appearance are light and elegant. The specimens 

 from the Cape of Good Hope are precisely similar to the in- 

 dividuals killed in Europe. 



Plate 41. Represents a male and female bird of this spe- 

 cies, in the natural size. 



Form typical. Bill black, forehead white, passing into General 

 pale verdigris-green. Crown of the head, nape of the tion. 

 neck, and upper part of the back, deep orange-coloured ^^^^^ Ij"'1- 

 brown. Lower part of the back, and upper tail-coverts, 

 saffron-yellow, passing into gallstone-yellow. Lesser 

 wing-coverts bright grass-green ; greater coverts pale 

 orpiment-orange. Outer webs of the quills and tertials 

 fine greenish-blue ; in some shades greyish-blue. Tail 

 greenish-blue ; the two middle feathers darker, elonga- 

 ted, and pointed. From each corner of the mouth runs 

 a black streak, passing the eyes, and through the ear- 

 coverts, which, at its posterior extremity, joins a nar- 

 row black ring, that encircles the neck. Throat bright 

 king's-yellow. Breast and belly greenish-blue. Legs 

 very short of a blackish-brown colour. Irides red. 



The colours of the female are not so bright in tint as those Female. 

 of the male. 



Genus CORACIAS, Linn. ROLLER. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill cultrated, higher than broad, compressed, and strait ; 

 the upper mandible bent at the point. Gape wide. Nostrils 

 in the base of the bill, linear, and lateral, pierced diagonally, 

 and partly covered by a feathered membrane. Wings long, 

 acuminated, having the first quill shorter than the second, 

 which is the longest in the wing. Tarsus shorter than the 

 middle toe. Feet having three toes before and one behind ; 

 toes entirely divided. Claws falcate, and sharp. 



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