118 BEE-EATER. 



1— COMMON BEE-EATER 



Merops Apiaster, Ind. Orn. i. 269. Lin. i. 182. Mus. Ad. ii. 21. Gm. Lin. i. 460. 



Sco;j. Ann. i. No. 63. i?a« 49. 3. /Fitf. 102. t. 24. Bris. iv. 532. Ttf. 8vo. ii. 



194. Klein, 110. 10. Id. Stem. 24. t. 25. f. 1. a. b. Faun. Arag. 73. Bor. Nat. 



ii. 147. Dec. i?ws. i. 107. Fb«n. itfow. 1768. p. 6. Gerin. t. 494. S/;r. d. BerL 



Gesell. iii. s. 194. Nat. Misc. t. 262. Foy. en Barb. i. 274. Bechst. Deutsch. ii. 



541. t. xix. Tern. Man. d'Orn. 160. /rf. Ed. ii. p. 420. 

 Merops Galilseus, Hasseln. t. 247. /rf. Eng. 198. Jn. ^ra&. p. 11. 

 Bienenfraas, Wirs. Vog. t. 27. Naturf. ix. s. 57. No. 62. 

 Der gemeine, oder gelbkehlige Bienenfresser, Schmid Vog. p. 57. t. 45. 

 Le Guepier, Bvf. vi. 480. pi. 23. PI. enl. 938. term. Surin. ii. 184 ? 

 La Merope, Get. Uc. Sard. t. p. 93. 

 Ispida Cauda molli, Kram. El. 337. 

 Aveiaruco, Gabin. de Madrid i. p. 47. lam. 13. 

 Gnat-snapper, Kolb. Cap. ii. 154. 

 Bee-eater, Gen. Syn. ii. 667. Id. Sup. 1 19. Id. Sup. i\. 148. Nat. Misc. t. 69. m. & f. 



Will. Engl. 147. Alb. ii. pi. 44. Lin. Trans, iii. 333. Br. Zool. Ed. 1812. i. p. 



339. Orn. Diet. Shaw's Zool. viii. 152. pi. 19. 



LENGTH ten inches. Bill one inch and three quarters long, 

 and black ; base of the upper mandible covered with dirty white 

 feathers; irides red; the forehead blue-green, behind it green ; top 

 of the head chestnut, tinged with green ; hindhead and neck chests 

 nut, growing paler towards the back; from the bill to the nape a 

 black stripe, passing through the eyes; back and scapulars pale 

 yellow, with a chestnut, and a green tinge in different lights ; rump 

 and upper tail coverts yellowish blue-green ; throat yellow ; under 

 parts of the body blue-green, paler towards the belly ; lesser wing 

 coverts dull green, the middle ones rufous, the greater rufous green ; 

 quills for the most part sea-green without, and many of the inner 

 ones rufous ; the first very short, the second longest of all ; tail 

 wedge-shaped, consisting of twelve feathers, with the shafts brown 

 above, and whitish beneath ; the two middle ones are sea-green, 



