8 



flocks ; but having arrived at their temporary destination they scatter somewhat over the country, 

 though several may still be seen in close proximity. They seem to live chiefly on a species of red 

 wasp, and sometimes seize their food on the wing like Swallows, though they more frequently 

 watch for it from some elevated perch, whence they suddenly pounce upon any prey which may 

 chance to come within their ken, returning invariably to the same spot, whether successful or 

 not. When their capture proves to be a bee or other stinging insect, it is always seized across 

 the body, when the bird, after giving it a sharp squeeze or two between the mandibles of the 

 bill, quickly swallows it. I have seen lizards pursue exactly the same plan when catching 

 hymenopterous insects. When on the wing this Bee-eater utters a pleasant, but rather subdued, 

 warbling chirp." Colonel Irby also (I. c.) gives some interesting details respecting the nidifica- 

 tion and habits of the present species as observed by him in Southern Spain, where it is very 

 numerous. " Commencing their labours of excavation," he writes, " almost immediately they 

 arrive, the earliest eggs that I know of were taken on the 29th of April ; but usually they do 

 not lay till about the second week in May, often not so soon. In some places they nest in large 

 colonies; in others there are perhaps two or three holes. When there are no river-banks or 

 barrancos in which to bore holes, they tunnel down into the ground, where the soil is suitable, 

 in a vertical direction, generally on some slightly elevated mound. 



" The shafts to these nests are not usually so long as those in banks of rivers, which some- 

 times reach to a distance of eight or nine feet in all ; the end is enlarged into a round sort of 

 chamber, on the bare soil of which the usual four or five shining white eggs are placed ; after a 

 little they become discoloured from the castings of the old birds, the nest being, as it were, lined 

 with the wings and undigested parts of bees and wasps. Vast numbers of eggs and young must 

 be annually destroyed by snakes and lizards : the latter are often seen sunning themselves at the 

 entrance of a hole among a colony of Bee-eaters ; and frequently have I avenged the birds by 

 treating the yellow reptile to a charge of shot. The bills of the Bee-eaters, after boring out 

 their habitations, are sometimes worn away to less than half their usual length ; but as newly 

 arrived birds never have these stumpy bills, it is evident that they grow again to their original 

 length. It has often been a source of wonder to me how they have the strength to make these 

 long tunnels ; the amount of exertion must be enormous ; but when one considers the holes of the 

 Sand-Martin, it is not so surprising after all. 



" During my stay at Gibraltar, Bee-eaters decreased very much in the neighbourhood, being 

 continually shot, on account of their bright plumage, to put in ladies' hats. Owing to this sad 

 fashion, I saw no less than seven hundred skins, all shot at Tangier in the spring of 1874, which 

 were consigned by Olcese to some dealer in London. However, the enormous injury these birds 

 do to the peasants who keep bees fully merits any amount of punishment ; but at the same time 

 they destroy quantities of wasps. After being fired at once or twice they become very wary and 

 shy at the breeding-places ; and the best way to shoot them is to hide near the colmenares or 

 groups of corchos or cork bee-hives, which in Spain are placed in rows, sometimes to the number 

 of seventy or eighty together ; and it is no unusual thing to see as many Bee-eaters wheeling 

 round and swooping down, even seizing the bees at the very entrance of their hives. 



" Their early departure in August is to be accounted for by the simple fact that bees cease 

 to work when there are no flowers ; and by that time all vegetation is scorched up." 



