maim records its occurrence in Fyen ; and Mr. Steenberg received one in spirits which had been 

 shot on Anholt in May 1853. It has been obtained on Heligoland; but it does not appear to 

 visit Holland or Belgium, though it visits Northern France. Messrs. Degland and Gerbe state 

 that a flock of fifteen or twenty established themselves, early in July 1840, at Pont Remy, near 

 Abbeville, in a crag already perforated by Sand-Martins, and there M. Baillon obtained a sitting 

 female and her eggs. With this exception its occurrences are principally confined to the southern 

 districts, some pairs nesting in Provence every year, although the majority are birds of passage. 

 M. Adrien Lacroix says that it occurs accidentally on passage, from time to time, in the Haute- 

 Garonne. Two were obtained in May 1868 near Portet, about ten kilometres south of Toulouse ; 

 and the following year a fine male was shot in April at Saint-Simon, eight kilometres from 

 Toulouse, and was in company with five or six others. Two have, he says, to his knowledge, 

 been obtained in the Hautes-Pyrenees ; he received one from Castres in May 1869; and it occurs 

 every year, on passage, more or less numerously, in the Pyrenees orientales. 



In Portugal the Bee-eater is very common throughout the summer; and in Spain it is 

 exceedingly numerous. I met with it commonly in Catalonia in May ; and Colonel Irby writes 

 (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 65) as follows : — " This bird did not appear to me to be quite so common in 

 Morocco at the end of April as on the Spanish side of the Straits, where during April, May, 

 June, and July it is one of the most conspicuous birds in the country ; at that season Andalucia 

 without Bee-eaters would be like London without Sparrows. Everywhere they are to be seen ; 

 and their single note, teerrp, heard continually repeated, magnifies their numbers in imagination. 

 Occasionally they venture into the centre of towns when on passage, hovering round the orange- 

 trees and flowers in some patio or garden. Crossing the Straits for the most part in the early 

 part of the day, flight follows flight for hours in succession. When passing at Gibraltar they 

 sometimes skim low down to settle for a moment on a bush or a tree, but generally go straight 

 on, often almost out of sight ; but their cry always betrays their presence in the air. My dates 

 of the first arrivals noticed are the 7th of April 1868, 4th of April 1869, 1st April 1870, 29th 

 of March 1871, 26th March 1872, 28th of March 1874. They were observed passing in great 

 numbers from the 10th to the 14th of April in three consecutive years, the greatest quantity 

 arriving on the 10th; so, in Spanish fashion, I christened that date 'St. Bee-eater's day.' The 

 latest flight I ever saw going north was on the 7th of May. Having remained at Gibraltar once 

 only during July and August, I had but that opportunity of watching the return migration, 

 which appeared during the last week in July and also on the 10th and 12th of August, the last 

 being noticed on the 29th of that month, all, with few exceptions, being heard passing at night. 

 The first arrivals, as is the case with all migrants, are those which remain to breed in the 

 immediate neighbourhood." 



This species is recorded by Von Homeyer from the Balearic Islands ; and it is tolerably 

 common all along the coasts of the Mediterranean, but rarer further inland. In Savoy it is only 

 of rare and irregular appearance, being principally met with along the valleys of the Rhone and 

 the Isere ; but in Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia it breeds in many parts, arriving late in April or 

 early in May. 



Mr. A. B. Brooke says (Ibis, 1873, p. 236) that in Sardinia, "from about the 17th of April, 

 large flocks began to appear, flying very high iu a northerly direction. The first arrivals seemed 



