56 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
thick ; a wise provision^ since their favourite food consists 
of bees and wasps, which they seize with their bill and 
quickly put to death* Their feet are short, and the outer 
and inner toes are syndactylous, or connected together as far 
as the first joint. The bee-eaters abound in the warmer 
parts of the world ; one species, the M, Apiaster, occasion- 
ally visits the British Islands. They make deep holes in 
banks, in which they deposit their eggs, which are white and 
spherical. 
Mr. E. L. Layard writes (in his ^ Rambles in Ceylon*^^) 
an account of the bee-eaters of Ceylon. He there records 
that he found the nest of the Merops erytlirocephalus, in a 
steep bank ; this was merely a hole dug into the clay about 
eighteen inches deep, and ending in a vaulted chamber. 
The eggs were two, pure white, rounded, and laid on the 
bare ground. The Merops viridis and M, Philippinensis 
are two other Cingalese species : the latter migrates. The 
M, viridis is gregarious ; it roosts together in flocks of 
several hundreds. Several specimens of the M, erythroce- 
pTialus may be seen on the same tree, each occupying its 
separate throne, from which it darts off in chase of insects. 
Mr. Layard says that the M, viridis is the only species he 
* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, p. 303. 
