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MEROPS APTASTER. 
COMMON BEE-EATER. 
Back ferruginous; belly and tail blue- 
ish green; two of the tail-feathers longer; 
chin pale yellow. 
Merops Apiaster, Lin. Gme. 
Le Guessier, BufFon. 
Common Bee-eater, Montagu. 
Bee-eater, Latham. 
The length of the Bee-eater is ten 
inches, and the alar extent sixteen or 
seventeen inches. 
The female nestles like the Kingfisher, 
in the bottom of holes, which they form 
with their short and strong feet, with the 
assistance of their beaks, in little hillocks 
where the soil is loose, and sometimes in 
the shelving sandy brinks of large rivers. 
In these holes on a bedding of moss, are 
deposited from four to seven white eggs, 
rather smaller than those of ihe Blackbird. 
These birds are said to be gregarious not 
