THE BEE-EATER. 367 



my knowledge come under the inspection of the naturalist. This 

 species is a rare and occasional visitant to England and Scotland. 



THE BEE-EATER. 



Merops Apiaster, Linn. 



Has very rarely been met with in Ireland. 



Dr. J. D. Marshall of Belfast, in a communication to the Maga- 

 zine of Natural History (vol. ii.), dated July, 1829, stated that 

 one " was killed in the county of Wicklow a few years ago." 

 Dr. R. Graves of Dublin, in a letter addressed to a mutual friend in 

 Belfast, in November, 1830, mentioned, that he had known three 

 bee-eaters to have been obtained in the interior of Ireland, one of 

 which was shot by Mr. Tardy, the eminent entomologist; its 

 stomach was found to contain many bees. It is doubtless the 

 same individual which is alluded to by Mr. Vigors in the Zoological 

 Journal (No. 4, p. 589) as being in the possession of that gentle- 

 man ; but is there stated to have been shot " on the sea-coast, 

 near Wexford, in the winter of 1820." (?) 



I had the opportunity, as noticed in the Magazine of Natural 

 History (vol. ii. p. 18, new series), of examining in a recent state, 

 the only one of these birds yet recorded as obtained in Scotland. 

 It was said to have been shot on the 6th of October, 1832, by 

 Capt. James M'Dowall, 2nd Life Guards, at his seat near the 

 Mull of Galloway. The specimen was sent to Belfast by my 

 friend Capt. Eayrer, R.N., to be preserved, and set up for that gen- 

 tleman. But few of these birds have been obtained in England. 



I have had the gratification of seeing the bee-eater in scenes 

 with which its brilliant plumage was more in harmony than with 

 any in the British Isles. It first excited my admiration in August 

 1826, when visiting the celebrated grotto of Egeria, near Rome. 

 On approaching this classic spot, several of these birds, in rapid, 

 swift-like flight, swept closely past and around us, uttering their 

 peculiar call, and with their graceful form and brilliant colours 

 proved irresistibly attractive. My companion, who, as well as 



