66 MEEOPIDiE. 



and again two or three I have are much elongated, one cylindrical 

 like a Sandgrouse's egg, another like a huge Swift's. 



In size they ai-e intermediate between those of M. pJdlippinus 

 and M. apiaster. In length the twenty specimens I have vary 

 from 0-87 to 1-00, and from 0-75 to 0-83 in \\idth, but the average 

 of this lot is 0-95 by 0-81. 



Merops apiaster, Linn. The European Bee-eater. 



Mei'ops apiaster, Linn., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 210 ; Hume, Rough Draft 

 N. ^ E. no. V2\. 



The European Bee-eater, so far as I am aware, breeds nowhere 

 A^ithin our limits, save only in Cashmere. There it nests abun- 

 dantly during May and June, laying from 4 to even 7 eggs ; the 

 nests are similar and similarly situated to those of the species 

 already noticed, but they are usually in close proximity to water. 

 The chamber is comparatively large, and at times (to judge from the 

 sample sent me) has a good deal of feather and grass lining. 



The late Captain Cock wrote : — " I did not succeed in taking 

 this bird's eggs until a few days before leaving the valley of 

 Cashmere. I found them breeding on the hill-side near Grunderbul 

 in June; they were not in colonies as J/, pluhiipinu.'i, but two or 

 three nests would occur within a short distance of each other. 

 Advantage was always taken of a steep bank or declivity in the 

 hill-side and the nest was from three to four feet from the surface, 

 a chamber at the end of the gallery without any lining, and 

 containing 5 or 6 white eggs considerably larger than those of 

 21. pliilippinus. I frequently caught the bird on the eggs, they 

 sat so close." 



Lieut. H. E. Barnes, writing from Afghanistan, says : — " The 

 European Bee-eater is Aery common, especially on the hills about 

 the end of April. I have not been able to find a nest, but I feel 

 certain they breed somewhere about the hills. On dissecting 

 several females at the end of May, I found the ovaries well 

 developed, and containing eggs larger than peas. This, coupled 

 with the fact that they are still common (July), convinces me that 

 the birds breed here ; but up to the present time not a single nest 

 has been found, nor are any holes seen any^^•he^e in the vicinity 

 where the birds appear most numerous." 



The eggs vary very much both in size and shape ; some are not 

 bigger than many eggs of 21. phiU^pimts, others are veri/ consider- 

 ably larger. Some are nearly spherical, others long, broad, obtuse- 

 ended ovals ; all are of course pure white, and most of them have 

 a very fine gloss. 



In size they vary from 0-9.5 to 1-13 inch in length, and from 

 0-87 to 0-94 inch in breadth, but they average 1'08 by 0-9 inch. 



