THE BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER. 43 
when we know that, with care, it is possible to get Honey-suckers to live upon 
food-mixtures, and Lories upon seeds, the difficulty appears no longer insuperable. 
Anyhow we know that Bee-eaters are kept in captivity; for in Dr. Russ’ ‘‘ Hand- 
buch fiir Vogelliebhaber,” p. 340, we read:—‘‘ The Common Bee-eater (Werops 
apiaster) abundantly sold. Green Indian Bee-eater (AZ. viridis) has once reached 
us. In the collection of E. Linden a specimen continued alive for a year. A 
pleasant loud whistle, often expanded into several harmonies, the song like that 
of the Laughing-Thrush, it greeted Mr. L. therewith when he brought it food, a 
singularly well-behaved and loveable cage-bird. Occasional food: bees, wasps, 
drones, etc., but fed for the greater part of the year upon mixed food, and, as a 
treat, mealworms and currants.” 
Although Dr. Russ does not say so, there can be no doubt that the common 
Bee-eater would thrive upon similar food; but its cry which is said to be ‘“‘a sharp 
gulp” would, I fear, never develop into a pleasing song. 
Family—MEROPIDE. 
THE BLuE-TAILED BEE-EATER. 
Merops philippinus, LINN. 
N example of this widely distributed oriental species is said to have been 
shot in Durham, in August, 1862. Doubtless it was somebody’s pet, but 
having accidentally escaped from captivity met with that inevitable fate which is 
constantly adding foreign species to the list of so-called ‘‘ British Birds.” I believe 
that this species has every bit as much right to be called British as the Pine 
Grosbeak and Scarlet Rose-finch, but in most recent books on British Birds it is 
merely mentioned in a footnote or at the end of a chapter: of course it is not 
British, nor are the others in my opinion. 
