64 MEEOPIDiE DICEOCEECUS 



I here quote: "The reeds (of a little island in tbe middle of the 

 Zambesi) were literally festooned with the bodies of Bee-Eaters and 

 bending under their weight. Most of the birds were already asleep, 

 and the reports of our guns threw them suddenly into confusion, 

 many clinging to the reeds and hardly realising what had taken 

 place. Soon a great sight met our eyes. Shaking themselves free 

 of the reeds, these birds, some three hundred in number, and 

 glorious in their feathered coats of scarlet, mounted in the air and 

 were soon bathed in the last glows of a setting sun. They massed 

 themselves together after the manner of starlings, making all the 

 time a great noise in a single note closely resembling the cry of 

 the fieldfare. 



" Essentially river-birds, they never stray far from water. Dried 

 up water- courses studded with pools, and flat reedy land interspersed 

 with tall trees, are their resorts. During the heat of the day this 

 Bee-Eater will remain for hours inert being quite indifferent to a 

 near approach ; towards evening the bird wakes up from its lethargy 

 and takes a po'st close to the river side, whence it skims over the 

 smooth water after insects, often striking the surface so as to send 

 up a cloud of spray." 



On November 1, not far from Zumbo, we came across a nesting 

 station of this species. The holes, which were very numerous, were 

 in a steep portion of the river's bank ; they ran very deep iuto the 

 bank, about three feet in, and we had no appliances for digging 

 them out. 



Mr. Andersson also states that this species breeds on the 

 Okavango but gives no details. 



Genus II. DICROCERCUS. 



Type. 

 Dicrocercus, Gab. d Heine, Mus. Eein. ii, p. 136 



(1863) D. hirundineus. 



Bill and head as in Merops ; wings pointed ; the secondaries 

 falling short of the primaries by a considerable amount, the first 

 primary about half the length of the second ; tail forked, the outer 

 tail-feathers a good deal longer than the central ones. This is a 

 purely African genus and contains only two closely allied species. 



