MEROPS CHRYSOLAIMUS, nobis. 

 Swallow-tailed Bee- Eater, Latham. 



PLATE XCIX. 



M. viridis, taenia per oculos nigra ; fronte, uropigio crissoque coeruleis ; gula an- 

 rea fascia ccerulea cincta, canda furcata. 



Swallow-tailed Bee-Eater, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. iv. p. 141. 



We can only find this species described by Dr. Latham, under the title 

 of " Swallow-tailed Bee-eater ;" and, although very common in collections 

 from Africa, it does not seem to be generally known. We have received 

 it from the Cape of Good Hope from Drs. Smith and Versfeld, and 

 from Sierra Leone and the river Gambia through the attention of Dr. Fer- 

 gusson. Dr. Latham makes it a native of Abyssinia, and describes it 

 from the collection of Mr. Salt. All our specimens have the black 

 streak through the eye so common to thejgenus, and which is only men- 

 tioned in Latham's variety of it, they varied only in the brightness of 

 colour, particularly the yellow of the throat, and the deep blue surround- 

 ing it. The following is nearly a correct description of our specimens : — 

 Length about eight and a half inches. The head, back, and breast rich 

 yellowish-green ; the forehead, above the eyes, the rump and vent, ultra- 

 marine blue ; the throat rich golden yellow, surrounded with a band of 

 deep ultramarine blue, narrower and paler towards the auriculars ; the 

 quills brownish-black, greenish on the outer margins, secondaries rich ches- 

 nut, with the extreme third black ; the tail much forked, the outward fea- 

 thers long, slender, and bending slightly outwards, the whole form some- 

 what as in the common Swallow ; the two centre feathers pale blue, the 

 others, with the exception of the exterior, dull yellowish-green, a dark 

 band a short way from the ends, and the tip of the outer webs white, the 

 two outer feathers blackish-green, darker at the tip, the outer webs pale 

 blue ; the under wing-coverts dull reddish. 



