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country. Unlike its smaller congener Merops viridis, it does not frequently perch, but remains 

 for hours on the wing, skimming, Swallow-like, up and down a nullah or wady, or systematically 

 ranging and quartering a barley-plain in pursuit of insects on the wing. Seen athwart the sun- 

 beams as they pass overhead, their colour has the appearance of burnished copper. They feed 

 as well as breed in colonies, preferring low banks to the steeper declivities, and seeming to rely 

 for protection against lizards and other enemies on the structure and turnings of their dwellings 

 rather than on their position. I have taken the eggs from a nest in the side of a mere low sand- 

 mound on the plain, out of which I startled the bird by riding over its hole." In Africa the 

 Bee-eater is widely distributed, being found from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Cape 

 colony. Von Heuglin says (Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 197) that it is common throughout North-east 

 Africa on passage from the end of March to the beginning of May, and again from August to 

 October, usually in flocks, but not so numerous as Merops persicus ; and he believes that it breeds 

 in Central Egypt and Arabia Petrsea. Captain Shelley says that it arrives in Egypt about the 

 10th of April, and is then plentifully distributed, but is not quite so abundant as Merops persicus. 

 The greater number do not remain to breed, but pass northwards in May, returning in August. 

 In North-west Africa it is also common, and is recorded from Algeria and Morocco as abundant, 

 arriving in the latter country, Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt-Drake says, early in April. On the West- 

 African coast it has been observed in most parts which collectors have visited down to the Cape ; 

 and it is also found on the Canaries and Madeira. Vernon Harcourt records it from the latter ; 

 and, according to Dr. Bolle (J. f. O. 1857, p. 324), it frequently visits Fuerteventura in large 

 flocks in winter, and is not unfrequently seen on Canaria. A considerable number are said to 

 have bred at Arguineguin several years in succession. I have seen specimens from Senegambia; 

 and Mr. Andersson says that it is very common in Ondonga during the rainy season, when it is 

 also not uncommon in Damara Land proper ; but he did not think that it was abundant in Great 

 Namaqua Land. Captain Shelley met with a flock of this species near Durban early in April ; 

 and Mr. E. L. Layard says that during the period of its visitation it extends all over the Cape 

 colony. He generally found it arrive about August, and adds that it breeds in the neighbourhood 

 of Nel's Poort. 



In Asia the Bee-eater does not range far to the eastward. Dr. Severtzoff says that it 

 breeds commonly in Turkestan ; and Mr. Blanford writes (E. Pers. ii. p. 122) of it, " a summer 

 migrant in Persia, and during the warm months it abounds throughout the islands. I met with 

 it first in Baluchistan on the 9th of April; but there, as in Sind, it is, I suspect, only a bird of 

 passage, and its breeding-quarters are further north ; but large numbers undoubtedly remain 

 during the summer, and breed on the Persian highlands. The same remark applies to Merops 

 persicus and Coracias garrula, none of these species being found in India in the winter, although 

 they traverse Baluchistan, Sind, and occasionally North-western India in the spring and autumn ; 

 so that it is probable that all of them pass the colder months of the year in Arabia or Africa, 

 and their line of migration crosses at right angles that of such species as Euspiza melanocepliala 

 and Coturnix communis, which resort to India in the winter, and breed in the Persian highlands." 

 Dr. Jerdon says that it was observed by Dr. Adams in great numbers in the valley of Cashmere, 

 extending into the plains of the Punjab, and is very abundant at Peshawar. He further adds 

 (Ibis, 1872, p. 3) that he did not find it so generally spread in Cashmere as he expected, but he 



