152 BEE-EATER. 



upper parts, and inclining to yellow beneath ; quills brown, the 

 outer edges rufous; the wings, when closed, reach to within an 

 inch of the end of the tail, which is three inches in length ; the 

 toes separated to their origin ; hind claws very stout. 



Inhabits Buenos Ayres, and seems to be an intermediate spe- 

 cies between this genus and that of the Hoopoe, not having the 

 toes united, and yet it has the toes longer, and tail shorter, than in 

 the latter. Found about the river Plate, where it is named Hor- 

 nero (Fournier), and at Tucuman, Cosero-Menagere. These names 

 are in allusion to the nest, being in form of an oven. At Paraguay, 

 where it is not uncommon, it is called Alonzo-garcia. The nest is 

 built generally on the naked, great branch of a tree ; sometimes on 

 the windows of houses, or some part of a fence, projecting beam of 

 a high house, or other building, mostly at several feet from the 

 ground, made in form of a baker's oven, composed of earth, and 

 the bird will often construct such an one in two days, as both sexes 

 act in concert in the undertaking. This nest is generally six inches 

 or more in diameter, and one inch thick ; the opening on one side, 

 twice as high as wide, within separated by a division, which begins 

 at the entrance, and carried circularly, so that the eggs are deposited 

 in the inner chamber on a bed of grass, four in number, white, 

 dotted with rufous. The Swallows, Perroquets, and other birds, 

 often attempt to make use of this ready-made mansion, but are 

 generally driven away by the right owners. The song is trifling, 

 scarcely more than Chi, chi, repeated at intervals, but may be heard 

 at some distance, and both sexes equally make it. 



