APPENDIX: i8j 



ft is known in Syria, and Arabia, and in the low country 

 of Abyffinia, on the borders of- Sennaar, wherever thera 

 are meadows, or longgrafs, interfperfed with lofty or fhady 

 trees. 



There are two different kinds of this bird in Syria con-w 

 nderably varying in colours, the brown. of the back being 

 eonfiderably darker in that r of the Syriac, and the blue 

 much deeper, chiefly on its wings ; the back- of the head, 

 likewife brown, with very little pale-blue throughout 

 any part of it, and wanting the two long feathers in the 

 tail. It is a fly- catcher, of bee- eater, of which thefe long 

 feathers are the mark. It is faid by Dr Shaw, and writers 

 that have defcribed it, to be of the fize of a jay, to which 

 indeed the Syrian bird approaches, but this before us feems 

 the leaft of his kind, and weighs half an ounce more than 

 a blackbird. It is confequently true, as Dr Shaw, fays, that 

 it has a fmaller- bill than a jay, becaufe the bird itfelf is 

 fmaller, neither is there any difproportion in the length of 

 its legs. Shaw fays, it is called, Shagarag, which he ima- 

 gines, by a tranfmutation of letters, to be the fame with 

 Sharakrak of the Talmudifts, or Shakarak of the Arabian 

 authors, and is derived from fharak, to fhriek or fcmall. 



But all this learning is very much mifplaced ; for from 

 the brightneis of the colour, it is derived from a word which 

 fignifies to Jhlne. Its belly and infide of its wings are of a 

 mofl beautiful pale blue. The flioulder, or top of its wings, 

 a dark blue. The middle of the wing is- traverfed by a 

 band of light blue ; the extremity of the wing, and the 

 iargeft feathers,, are of a dark. blue* The two feathers of its- 



tai!^ 



