242 THE BIKDS OF AUSTRALIA 



Genus Merops. 

 The breast plumes ordinary, not elongated and pendent. 

 The centre tail feathers elongated. Nearly the whole of the Old 

 World. 



The Bee-eater. 

 Merops ornaius. 



Australia generally to Moluccas and Celebes. 



Head yellowish-green; nape orange-rufous; mantle yellowish-green; 

 lower back and rump light cobalt blue; upper tail coverts dark blue, tail 

 black; throat yellow with a broad band of black behind; rest of under 

 surface of body yellowish-green; under wing-coverts fawn colour; under 

 tail-coverts blue; bill black; feet greenish-grey; iris light red. Total 

 length 9.5 inches, oulmen 1.5, wing 4.55, tail 3.15, centre feathers 4.85, 

 tarsus .4. 



This bird is remarkable for its many coloured plumage, and 

 for the extreme length of the two central tail feathers. In the 

 day it frequents the open forest, in the evening the banks and 

 sides of rivers. Like the Halcyon, it selects a dead butt of a 

 branch which serves as a look-out, and from thence it darts 

 forth to capture the passing insects. It is unfortunately not 

 welcome on the bee farms, but, apart from these, it is a most 

 useful destroyer of insect vermin. They arrive from New Guinea 

 about August, flying against the south-east trades, usually in 

 small parties of from ten to fifty birds, and fly with an undu- 

 lating flight. The eggs are deposited in a hole made in a sandy 

 slope. The entrance is very small, ' ' scarcely larger than a mouse- 

 hole, " and the hole runs in for perhaps a yard. In a sort of 

 chamber at the extremity are laid the eggs, four or five in 

 number, pinky-white in colour. Dimensions .85 x .76 inch. 

 As the bird commences sitting when the first egg is laid, the 

 young hatch out in the order the eggs are laid. 



Suh-order Caprimulgi. 



Family Caprimulgidce. 

 Gape carried very far back. Night-flying insectivorous birds, 

 catching their prey on the wing. Soft mottled plumage, the 

 colours varying with the soil. 



