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all to pass on further north ; and it was quite a week later before they began to settle in the 

 south of the island. On their migration they keep up their soft musical note, which can be 

 heard a long distance off. Large numbers breed in the island." 



Mr. C. A. Wright states (Ibis, 1864, p. 73), in Malta " it arrives in April and May in large 

 flocks ; and its peculiar gurgling note may be heard at a long distance. Towards evening they 

 settle to roost on the carob-trees, and nestle so close to one another that I have known as 

 many as twenty or thirty to be brought down at one shot. Three were seen in 1861 as late as 

 the 7th June. In Gozo they have been observed to lay their eggs in the sand. They reappear 

 in autumn." In Southern Germany it occurs, as a rule, only as an accidental straggler. 

 Dr. Fritsch says that it is a rare bird in Bohemia ; but, according to Voboril, it is said to have 

 on one occasion nested near Prague. The late Mr. E. Seidensacher informed me that one was 

 obtained near Reichenegg on the 21st May 1864, but that near Marburg it more frequently 

 occurs and is even seen in small flocks. 



Of it in Transylvania Messrs. Danford and Harvie-Brown write (Ibis, 1875, p. 300), " Local, 

 but, where occurring, found in considerable numbers. Herr Klir saw many during former visits 

 at Bogat, on the Maros, where they were breeding in the river-banks. They seem, however, to 

 be of a wandering disposition ; for, although we looked for them at this breeding-place on two 

 occasions, we did not see a single bird, but were always told that they had been there a day or 

 two before. The old nesting-holes which we examined in the low earth-banks of the river were 

 in some instances completely line with elytra of beetles. Herr Csato says that in 1850 a great 

 flock appeared at Nagy-oklos, in the Strell valley; and by Bieltz and others Kleinschelken, 

 Birthalen, Nagy-Enyed, Szasvaros, &c. are given as localities." 



It is common during the breeding-season along the Danube, and breeds in colonies in the 

 banks on many of the southern portions of that river. In Southern Russia and Turkey it is 

 exceedingly numerous during the summer; and Dr. Kriiper says that it is a common bird 

 throughout Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor, where it arrives early in April, and commences 

 breeding late in May or early in June. He took fresh eggs on the 26th May and the 10th of 

 June in Acarnania, and the 23rd May in Ionia, and incubated eggs on the 8th June on the 

 Isthmus. Eight eggs is the number usually deposited. As soon as the young birds are full- 

 grown they are found in August in flocks on the plains, and leave altogether in September. 



Lord Lilford writes (Ibis, 1860, p. 235), " the Bee-eater arrives in Corfu and Epirus in 

 great numbers in April, and breeds in the latter country on the banks of the Kataito river, near 

 Mursyah, and many other similar localities. In all the holes that we examined, the eggs were laid 

 on the bare sand, without any attempt at a nest. I several times observed three, and once or 

 twice four birds fly from the same hole. These birds leave the country as soon as the young are 

 able to fly. I have never seen them later than the beginning of August. I observed also, in 

 August 1858, on the banks of the Guadalquivir, near San Juan de Alfarache, where there is a 

 large colony of this species, that, although the banks were mined in every direction, and exhibited 

 signs of recent occupation, not a Bee-eater was to be seen." 



In Asia Minor it is, as in Greece, very common in all suitable localities ; and in Palestine, 

 Canon Tristram writes (Ibis, 1866, p. 83), " though far more numerous in individuals than the 

 Roller, it is less universally distributed, living, however, in large societies in every part of the 



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