324 BRITISH BIRDS. 



the other six^ all fresh. The old nests contained nothing but fine earth 

 and decomposed castings. The eggs in the four clutch were on the bare 

 earth ; those in the six clutch were surrounded with beetle-cases and wings 

 of dragonflies. The latter did not appear to have been swallowed ; so 

 that it seems probable that the male feeds the female on the nest. The 

 birds sat very close, and did not leave the hole until it was half dug out. 

 The nests were in a small chamber at the end of the hole. Further south 

 the Bee-eater breeds much earlier. Irby obtataed eggs taken in the south 

 of Spain as. early as the 29th of April ; but the usual laying-time both in 

 Spain and Greece is late in May, and I have taken nearly fresh eggs 

 near Corinth as late as the 6th of June. The eggs of the Bee-eater are 

 from five to eight or nine in number, nearly round, and pure glossy white, 

 the shell being as highly polished as that of the Kingfisher's or Wood- 

 pecker's eggs. They vary in length from 1'05 to '95 inch, and in breadth 

 from "93 to "8 inch. 



The Bee-eater appears to rear only one brood in the year ; and as soon 

 as the young are strong upon the wing they make preparations for their 

 departure south. 



The adult male Bee-eater is an extremely handsome bird. The forehead 

 is white at the base of the bill, and shades through virdigris-blue and eme- 

 rald-green into dark chestnut on the head, which gradually becomes paler on 

 the mantle ; this again gradates into dark yellow on the centre of the back 

 and rump, and into nearly white on the scapulars. The upper tail-coverts 

 and tail vary from green to blue, as do also the innermost secondaries ; the 

 primaries are blue suffused with green and narrowly tipped with dark 

 brown, and the secondaries are chestnut, broadly tipped with dark brown. 

 The wing-coverts are green at the shoulder, blue on the primaries, and 

 chestnut on the secondaries *. The lores and ear-coverts are black ; the 

 cheeks are greenish blue, and the chin and throat yellow, separated by a 

 black band from the metallic blue-green of the rest of the undeyparts ; the 

 axillaries and the under surface of the wing are buff. The two centre tail- 

 feathers have a narrow tip projecting an inch beyond the rest of the tail. 

 Bill black; legs, feet, and claws reddish brown; irides red. The female 

 resembles the male ; but the two centre tail-feathers are not quite so long, 

 the plumage is not so brilliant, and the chestnut on the back in many places 

 is suffused with green. Young in first plumage t differ remarkably from 

 adults. There is no blue or green on the forehead, the chestnut on the 



* This is one among many instances of the remarkable correlation of colour with 

 structure. 



t Dresser appears to have been unacquainted with the young of the Bee-eater. In his 

 ' Birds of Europe ' he fails to point out the most important characters which distinguish 

 the male from the female, and describes those of the young bird incorrectly. Newton 

 copies Yarrell's description of the young, which is in the main correct. I have described 



