11 [Vol. xxvii. 



Hah. N.W. Rhodesia, 12th of November, 1909 {Rev. F. A. 

 Rogers and E. C. Chubb) . 



06s. A second example of this species has recently been 

 presented to the Natural History Museum by Capt. Arthur 

 Reidj who procured it to the east of Lake Bangweola on the 

 11th of October, 1909. 



Mr. M. J. NicoLL sent for exhibition examples of a 

 new subspecies of Bee-eater, together with the following 

 remarks : — 



On comparing a series of the little Green Bee-eater from 

 North Egypt with a series of Merops viridis viridissinius, 

 Swains., from the Sudan, I find that the former is easily 

 separable by its much bluer-green coloration. 



In his ' Birds of Egypt ' Captain Shelley figures this 

 northern form, but calls it Merops viridis, Linn., thereby 

 uniting it with the Indian form. As there seems to be no 

 available name for the Egyptian bird, I propose to call it 



Merops viridis cleopatra, subsp. n. 



Adult male and female. Differ from M. vh^idis viridissimus 

 in being bluish-green above and below, and not bronze-green. 

 The sexes are similar in colour, but the female is slightly 

 duller, and has the elongate middle tail-feathers shorter than 

 in the male. 



Culmen 31 mm. ; wing 92. 



i/a^. Egypt. Resident near Cairo, where it breeds. Many 

 migrate southwards in winter as far as the Blue and White 

 Niles. 



Type (7 : No. 436. Mazghouna, near Cairo, 6. iii. 08. 

 Coll. M. J. Nicoll. 



Obs. At present I know of only one breeding-place, 

 i. e. at Mazghouna, though there are probably others. 



I have examined specimens in winter from the Sudan 

 (Blue and White Niles) and from Luxor. 



M. viridis vii'idissimus is found as far north as Luxor, there 

 being an example from that locality in the Tring Museum. 



