A Hol'idaii in flie Wrst Tmlir.i. 
"iif :i /{iiiilil/i/ii llml jirojected oNor ttic hisi'li foad ncai' Cuntcnt. in St. 
" Eli/.iilieths. Another which f found at the end of June in m saijc-huKh 
"was of the same sti-ucture ; in this were two et;i;s. i^rceiii'^h white tliickly 
"hut indefinitely dashed with reddish at the hir^ci' <'iid Hohinson states 
" the dimensions til us : 'the length alxiut Mi eights, the dianietei- ahout 
"'2\ eights' Imt I lind my sjieeimens iinich larger than this: accurate 
"measurement giving j inch by rather less than h inch." 
(To he eontinued.) 
The Birds of Gambia. 
By E. HOPKTNSON, D.S.O.. M.A.. M.P.. 
(Cmitiiiued from i>. 146.) 
Before leaving this beautiful and iu)teworthy sjjecies 1 must again 
(luote from ('ai)tain Royd Alexaudei-'s " From the Niger to the Nile," as his 
ilescription of a breeding colony of these Bee-eaters is so picturesque and 
gives a much better idea of such a place and the habits of the birds than any 
words of mine could. " This (the breeding ))lace) was situated," he writes, 
" in a high part of the bank. The nest-holes, about three inches in diameter 
and clo.se to one another, were in several rows and ran into the sand.\' stra- 
tum ; there must have been at least (50 of them, which gave to the bank the 
appearance of having been pitted with bullets. On the approach of our boats 
a head poked out fi'om every hole and the next moment a flare of glorious 
red birds burst out aci'oss the water, screeching defiance in oin- faces. Dazed 
by their sudden coming into the glare, they circled and hung in the air so 
close to us that it would have been easy enough to knock them over with 
sticks, or as they clung to the sandy banks pelt them with stones. 
" As 1 had never found their eggs before, I attemjited to dig out 
a nest, but had reluctantly to give it up, as the hole went more than six fe t 
into the bank. All kinds of insects form the prey of these birds. Once I 
shot one with its mouth so stuffed with butterflies that it a]>i)care ! ti> nic 
marvellous that it had not been choked. 
" When a bush-tiie is raging, it is an extraordinary sight to see I'.te- 
eaters flock to the scene and show a reckless fearlessness liy flying right into 
the flames after their jirey, I remember once jiicking up a iiii'd with its 
wings so singed that it was unable to fly." 
UPUPIDAE. 
l'/>iil,ft ep,,),^. HOOPOE. 
Hdiiiji'. Europe. Asia, North-east Africa, f II. L.) West and North- 
east Afi'ica [Ulidleij). 
The Hoopoe is, I should think, a fairly regular winter visitor to the 
Gambia, especially to the more inland parts, as nearly every year I have notes 
of having seen at least two or three in various places at this season, and it is 
also quite well-known to the natives and is named in each of the leading 
native languages of the Protectorate, ]\Iandingo and Joloff ; in the former it 
is called " Allala-nansingo " (as is also Pi io/iop.'s), in the latter " Juba." They 
are generally t*een singly or in pairs looking for food on the ground where 
