BEE EATER. 
29 
* Another correspondent of the Magazine of Natural History says, 
“ The Bearded Titmouse inhabits the marshes bordering on the Thames, 
both in Kent and Essex. I was told in December last, that some had 
been seen in a large piece of reeds below Barking Creek ; and being 
desirous of observing them in their haunts, I went out one morning 
accomjDanied by one person and a dog, to the above-named place, on a 
cold windy morning ; the reed-cutters having commenced their opera- 
tions, I was fearful of deferring’ my visit, lest my game might be driven 
away : arrived on our ground, we traversed it some time without suc- 
cess, and were about to leave it, when our attention was roused by the 
alarm-cry of this bird. Looking up, we saw eight or ten of these beauti- 
ful creatures on the wing, just topping the reeds over our heads, uttering 
in full chorus their forcibly musical note, which resembles the mono- 
syllable ping, ping, pronounced at first slow and single, then two or 
three times in a more hurried manner, uttered in a clear and ringing 
though soft tone, which well corresponds with the beauty and delicacy 
of this bird. Their flights were short and low, only sufficient to clear 
the reeds, on the seedy tops of which they alight to feed, — hanging 
like most of their tribe with the head or back downwards. If disturbed, 
they descend by running or rather by dropping. The movement is 
rapid along the stalk to the bottom, where they creep and flit, perfectly 
concealed by the closeness of the covert, which resembles the tint of 
their plumage. After some time we w’ere fortunate enough to shoot 
one, a male in fine plumage. I held it in my hand when scarcely dead. 
Nothing could exceed the beauty of the eye ; the bright orange of the 
iris, surrounded by the deep glossy black of the mustaches and streak 
above, receives additional brilliancy from the contrast, and struck me as 
a masterpiece of colour and neatness.” ^ It has been ranked by various 
authors with the butcher bird, and was called least ])utcher bird, in a 
former edition of the British Zoology, but afterwards removed by 
Mr. Pennant to this genus.* 
BEE BIRD. — * A name for several small birds, such as the Willow 
Wren, and Beam Bird.* 
BEE EATER (Merops apiaster, Linn^us.) 
* Merops Apiaster, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 182. 1, — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 460. — Lath. 
Ind. Orn. 1. p. 269. 1. — Rail, Syn, p. 49. 3. — Will. p. 102. t. 24. — Briss. 
4. p. 582. — Merops chrysocephaius, Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 273. 11. — Merops 
Galilpeus, Hassel. It. 247. — Le Guepier, Buff. Ois. 6. p. 480. t. 23. — Id. pi. 
Enl. 938. — Le Vaill. Ois. de Farad, et Promer, 3. pi. 1. and 2. — Le Guepier 
vulgaire, Tenim. Man. d’Orn. 1. p. 420. — Bienfresser, Beclist. Naturg. Deut. 
