62 BIRDS OF DAMABA LAJSfD. 



78. Merops nubicoides, Des Murs. Carmine-tliroated Bee-eater. 



Merops nubicoides, Des Murs, Icon. Om. pi. 36. 



Merops natalends, Schlegel's Mus. des Pays-Bas, Merops, p. 7. 



I have only once observed this species, when a 

 specimen occurred a few days' journey south of the 

 river Okavango ; its appearance on the wing was beau- 

 tiful. I understand from the hunters that at certain 

 seasons this Bee-eater is common on the Okavango, and 

 breeds in the banks of that river. 



[I have not seen the specimen mentioned in the above note 

 by Mr. Andersson ; but another memorandum left by him de- 

 scribes its plumage in detail^ and leaves no doubt of its having 

 been an example of Merops nubicoides, though supposed by Mr. 

 Andersson to be a specimen of the more northern M. nubicus, 

 from which M. nubicoides is chiefly distinguishable by the 

 carmine colouring of the throaty that part being green in M. 

 nubicus. — Ed.J 



79. MelittophagUS pusillus, Miill. Rufous-winged Bee-eater. 



Le Guepier d, collier hleu, Levaillant's Hist. Nat. des Promerops et 



des Gu^piers, pi. 7. 

 Le Ou6pier minulle, ibid. pi. 17. 

 Merops erythropterus, Layard's Cat. No. 115. 



„ „ Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 409. 



MelittophagUS pusillus, Gray's Hand-list of Birds, No. 1222. 



This exquisite and diminutive species is common on 

 the banks of the rivers Okavango, Teoughe, and Botletle, 

 as well as on the Lake-watersheds in general, and also 

 about Lake Ngami itself; but I have never observed it so 

 far south as Damara Land proper. It seems to be 

 partial to the immediate neighbourhood of the reedy 

 banks of rivers and of swamps and morasses ; and I have 

 never found it at any distance from water. 



