FAM. MBROPIDA: o- 
KEY TO THE FORMS 
1. General colour above pale green, upper throat white; crown, a broad stripe 
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— General colour above bright green, upper throat vufous buff like the crown 
and nape, a blackish terminal band on the tal. . . . . . . +. +. ABROPS BOEHMI. 
2. Smaller (wing gt-g97 mm.), the band across the throat narrower. . . . . A®SROPS ALBICOLIIS ALBICOLLIS. 
— Larger (wing 98-108 mm.), the band across the throat rather broader . . . ASROPS ALBICOLLIS MAJOR (GC). 
1. Aerops boehmi (Reichenow). 
Merops (Melittophagus) boehmit Reichenow, Journ. f. Ornith. 1882, p. 233 (Bumi district); cf. Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus. Vol. 17, p. 83 (1892). 
Merops dressert Shelley, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1882, p. 303 (Rovuma River). 
Fig. notab. Shelley, Journ. f. Ornith. 1882, pl. 2, f. 3; Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1882, pl. 16; Dresser, 
Monogr. Merop. pl. 12 (1884). 
Hab. East- and East Central Africa. 
2. AErops albicollis albicollis (Vieillot). (Plate, Figs. 2, 2a.) 
Merops albicollis Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat. Vol. 14, p. 15 (1817) (ex Levaillant, Hist. Nat. Gueép. 1807, 
Senegal); cf. Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. Vol. 17, p. 76 (1892). 
Merops cuvierr Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl. Zoo]. Mus. Berl. p. 15 (1823) (Senegambia). 
Fig. notab. Levaillant, Hist. Nat. Guép. pl. 9 (1807); Swainson, Zool. Ill. Vol. 2, pl. 76 (1821); Dresser, 
Monogr. Merop. pl. 13 (1884). 
Hab. West Africa, from Senegambia to Gaboon (Western Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gold 
Coast, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroons); eastwards to Central Africa (« Congo », Stanley Falls) and East 
Central Africa (Unyoro, Lake Stephanie). 
3. AErops albicollis major Parrot. 
Aérops albicollis maior Parrot, Ornith. Monatsber. Vol. 15, p. 12 (1910) (Bagamoyo, East Africa). 
Hab. Southern Arabia (Zahey); North-eastern Africa, south to the Zambesi River (Nubia, Kordofan, 
Eritrea, Abessinia, British East Africa, German East Africa), west to Central Africa (Uganda, 
Lado) and to the Upper and Lower Congo. 
3. GENUS DICROCERCUS CABANIS & HEINE 
Dicrocercus Cabanis & Heine, Mus. Heinean. Theil 2, p. 136 (type : D. hivundineus, Senegal); Sharpe, 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. Vol. 17, p. 41 (1892). 
Characters. They are the same of those of the family, with the breast-plumes normal, 
but the tail deeply forked, the central rectrices not elongated; wings moderately long, pointed, 
the third primary longest; the second and fourth somewhat shorter and nearly equal in length; 
secondaries rather long, the elongated inner secondaries as long as the primaries. Feet small, 
tolerably stout, the lower portion of the tibia bare, the tarsus scutellate, toes moderately short; 
bill long, slender, acute; gape-line curved; nostrils roundish, nasal membrane short. 
The swallow-tailed Bee-eaters are said to resemble Merops apiaster in habits, but 
they are more frequently found isolated or in pairs in the forests, flying high when in search 
of food, but also in localities near water. 
Geographical Distribution. The genus, containing but one species with four subspecies, 
is confined to Africa, 
