160 MEROPID/E. 



runs from the beak, through the eye, to the back of the ear- 

 coverts, and from thence it continues in the form of a gorget 

 round the lower part of the throat, where it divides the 

 golden yellow that covers the throat, cheeks, and swallow, 

 from the emerald green of the breast. The top of the head 

 and nape are of a rich chesnut-brown, extending over the 

 wing-coverts, and half way down the back, but in a lighter 

 tint. 



The lower part of the back is golden-yellow, the upper 

 tail-coverts are blueish-green, tinged with a gold cast, the 

 lesser wing-coverts are olive-green, the larger rufous, or 

 cinam on-coloured, here and there tinged with green ; the 

 secondary quill-feathers are cinnamon-brown, with black tips ; 

 the primary quill-feathers are greenish-blue, with black tips, 

 and brown edges on the inner webs ; the shafts of all the 

 quills are black and strong ; the edge, or carpus-feathers, 

 of the wing, and the small under-co verts, pale rufous. The 

 tail-feathers are blueish-green, tinged with yellow, the long 

 tips of the two middle feathers and shafts are black ; on 

 the under surface the tail is pale grey, the shaft whitish. 

 The iris is carmine- red, and the legs and feet are pale red- 

 dish-brown ; the claws are dusky. 



The young males are more dull in colour, the chesnut-tint 

 paler ; the black band about the throat greenish, and the 

 middle tail-feathers extend but little beyond the rest ; the 

 iris is rose-red. 



The adult females have the colours more intermixed and 

 confused, they are duller in tint, and the central tail-feathers 

 are two lines shorter than in the male. 



The full grown Bee-eater measures, from the tip of the 

 beak to the extremity of the middle tail-feathers, ten inches 

 and a half, and the expanse is above eighteen inches ; the 

 length of the wing, from the carpal joint to the tip, is full 



