INDIAN BEE-EATER. 
f HIS beautiful bird, the Merops Viridis of 
Linnaeus, is called by BufFoii the Green Blue- 
Throated Bee-Eater. 
A little accident, BufFon remarks, which 
happened to a bird of this species long after it 
was dead, affords an instance of the mistakes 
"which are apt to embarrass the nomenclature. 
The bird belonged to Mr. Dandridge, and was 
described, delineated, engraved, and coloured, 
by two English naturalists, Edwards and Al - 
bin : a Frenchman well skilled in ornithology, 
says Buffon, and notwithstanding he had be- 
side him a specimen, has supposed that these 
two figures have represented two distinct spe- 
cies, and has in consequence described them 
separately, and under different denominations^ 
The bird of Mr. Dandridge, observed by 
Edwards, was one-third smaller than the Eu- 
ropean Bee- Eater ; and the two middle quills 
of it's tail were much longer and narrower. 
It 
