BEE-EATER. 129 



7— ABYSSINIAN BEE-EATER. 



LENGTH near twelve inches. Bill almost two inches long, 

 black; crown of the head brownish black; forehead, and under the 

 chin, bluish white, passing in a broad streak on each side of the 

 head to the nape ; in the middle of this a dark streak, in which the 

 eye is included ; general colour of the plumage above, wings, and 

 tail olive green ; beneath the same, but paler, and inclining to blue ; 

 under wing coverts reddish buff; chin and throat pale chestnut ; the 

 inner webs of the quills more or less reddish buff; the second quills 

 bifid at the ends ; the tail consists of twelve feathers, three inches 

 and three quarters long, green above, and dusky beneath, and on 

 the inner webs ; the two middle ones exceed the others by two inches 

 and a half, and end in a point ; legs dusky. 



Supposed to inhabit Abyssinia. — Described from a specimen in 

 the collection of Mr. Salt, and is a singularly beautiful species. 



8.-PHILIPPINE BEE-EATER. 



Merops Philippinus, Ind. Orn. i. 271. Lin. i. 183. Gm. Lin. i. 4G1. 



Apiaster Philippensis major, Bris. iv. 560. t. 43. 1. Id. Svo. i. 201. 



Guepier vert a queue d'Azur, Buf. vi. 404. 



Grand Guepier des Philippines, PL enl. 57. 



Philippine Bee-Eater, Gen. Syn. ii. 674. Shaw's Zool. viii. 165. 



THE length of this species is near nine inches. Bill two inches 

 long, and black ; the head, neck behind, and upper parts of the 

 body dull green, glossed with copper, but the rump and tail coverts 

 are blue green ; on each side of the head is a stripe of black, which 

 begins at the upper mandible, and passes through the eye ; beneath 



VOL. IV. S 



