BEE EATER. 



29 



* Another correspondent of the Magazine of Natural History says, 

 " The Bearded Titmouse inhabits the marshes bordering- on the Thames, 

 both in Kent and Essex. I was told in December last, that some had 

 been seen in a large piece of reeds below Barking- Creek ; and being- 

 desirous of observing them in their haunts, I went out one morning- 

 accompanied by one person and a dog, to the above-named place, on a 

 cold windy morning ; the reed-cutters having commenced their opera- 

 tions, I was fearful of deferring my visit, lest my game might be driven 

 away : arrived on our ground, we traversed it some time without suc- 

 cess, and were about to leave it, when our attention was roused by the 

 alarm-cry of this bird. Looking up, we saw eight or ten of these beauti- 

 ful creatures on the wing, just topping the reeds over our heads, uttering 

 in full chorus their forcibly musical note, which resembles the mono- 

 syllable ping, ping, pronounced at first slow and single, then two or 

 three times in a more hurried manner, uttered in a clear and ringing 

 though soft tone, which well corresponds with the beauty and delicacy 

 of this bird. Their flights were short and low, only sufficient to clear 

 the reeds, on the seedy tops of which they alight to feed, — hanging 

 like most of their tribe with the head or back downwards. If disturbed, 

 they descend by running or rather by dropping. The movement is 

 rapid along the stalk to the bottom, where they creep and flit, perfectly 

 concealed by the closeness of the covert, which resembles the tint of 

 their plumage. After some time we were fortunate enough to shoot 

 one, a male in line plumage. I held it in my hand when scarcely dead. 

 Nothing could exceed the beauty of the eye ; the bright orange of the 

 iris, surrounded by the deep glossy black of the mustaches and streak 

 above, receives additional brilliancy from the contrast, and struck me as 

 a masterpiece of colour and neatness." 1 It has been ranked by various 

 authors with the butcher bird, and was called least butcher bird, in a 

 former edition of the British Zoology, but afterwards removed by 

 Mr. Pennant to this genus.* 



BEE BIRD. — * A name for several small birds, such as the Willow 

 Wren, and Beam Bird.* 



BEE EATER (Merops apiaster, Linn^us.) 



* Merops Apiaster, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 182. 1. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 460. — Lath. 

 Ind. Ora. 1. p. 269. 1 — Rati, Syn. p. 49. 3.— Will. p. 102. t. 24.— Briss. 

 4. p. 582. — Merops chrysocephalus, Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 273. 11. — Merops 

 Galiljeus, Hassel. It. 247.— Le Guepier, Buff. Ois. 6. p. 480. t. 23.— Id. pi. 

 Enl. 938.— Le Vaill. Ois. de Parad. et Promer, 3. pi. 1. and 2. — Le Guepier 

 vulgaire, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 420. — Bienfresser, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 



1 Mag. of Not. Hist. ii. 222. 



