The Birds of Oamhia. 
145 
My notes are as follows 
Jan. 1*,K)4. Hec-eaters with pointed feathers in tail and of a very blue 
shade of tji'een common at Jennak and again at Su.juka, in jjarties of from 20 
to ;{(). Tliese I thouglit at the time were Common Bee-caters, hut later on 
decidtid in my own mind that they wei'e v'n-idix. 
March. VM)l). Hee-eaters {/ r/r/<//s) common on the flats skirtin<i the 
Jesluiwan svvani)). 
K(d). f)th, 11)07. A number of u;)een-blue Bee-eaters, the same size as 
tile connnon Bee-eater. Hying over the swam]) near Bakow. 
Maicli 11, l',)07. A large flock of (4recn Bee-eaters (probably the same 
as the above) in the middle of the swamp on the Cape road (^ririd/.i or 
perxiciis as far as 1 could tell at a distance, I think the former). Most of 
them were resting on the Mangrove bu.shes, hardly nK)ving at one's approach 
and looking as if they were wearied with travel. 
i\Iarch ;50, l',)07. Sangajor. (rreen Bee-eaters in pairs all about the 
thick bush here, especially on the outside of the clumps of larger trees. 
Bees, as is generally the case in Fogni at this season are very numerous and 
troublesome, so that tlie birds must easily be able to get a surfeit of the 
name food here. 
Nov., 1901). Saw a few green Bee-eaters in the Upper River, but they 
were not nearly so numerous as the Red and Bullock's Bee-eaters, which 
were literally in swarms all along the banks. 
.Urrops induriix. RED BEE-EATER. 
It'liiKjc. West Africa, Senegambia to Nigei'ia ; E<|uatoriai and East 
Africa. (JLL.J 
This handsome si)ecies is the commonest of all of all our Bee-eaters 
They are particularly partial to the neighbourhood of water- and are to be 
seen in hundreds nearly every time one travels on the river. They .spend 
more of their waking hours on the wing than their green relations and are 
more in evideiice than they are at bush fires preying on the insects driven up. 
So certainly are they to be found at bush fires that they have eai'ned a 
special name from the Mandingoes, " Taka-barringdingo." which literally 
means " The nephew of the burning," or as it would l)e translated here into 
the expressive coast English, " OF man bush-fire him pickin'." This habit 
of theirs too is taken advantage of by the native skin hunters, who have only 
to fire the bush to be certain of attracting plenty of these Bee-eaters as well 
as Glossy Starlings and Rollers within reach of their guns. Their JolofE 
name is Pitchi-dai. They nest in holes in high banks overlooking water, — 
with us mostly in the Upper River disti-ict, where the banks are steep and 
fairly porous. Their food is much the same as that of the Bee-eaters, but 
they show a decided preference for the larger insects ; 1 have often seen 
them tackle and after some struggling swallow quite big locusts, feats which 
I have never seen any of the relations emulate. 
Their plumage is mainly a lovely crimson set off by blue and black ; 
in detail : — the upi)er parts aie a beautiful silky crimson changing to light 
blue on the rump; wings reddish brown ti{)ped with black ; tail of which 
the two middle feathers are much narrowed and elongated, like the wings. 
Head bluish-green with a black line from the l)eak through the eye to the 
