MEROPS BULLOCKOIDES.*— Smith. 
Aves. — Plate IX. (Male.) 
M. fronte subalbida ; vertice pallide ceeruleo-viridi ; cervice, pcctore, abdomineque summo pallide cinna- 
momeis ; dorso, kumeris, caudaque viridibus ; caudse tectricibus superioribus inferioribusque cyaneis ; 
taenia per oculos nigra subtus albo-marginata ; gula alba ; gutture coccineo ; rectricium secundariarum 
apicibus nigris. 
Longittjdo, unc. 
Merops Bullockoides. South African Quarterly Journal, 1 834. 
Colour. — Front whitish ; top of the head pale bluish green ; the back and 
sides of the neck, the breast, and the belly, pale cinnamon brown ; vent dirty 
green ; back, wings and tail light grass-green ; the upper and under tail 
coverts, and a spot on each side at the base of the thigh ultra-marine blue. The 
side of the head crossed by a deep black band, edged below with white, which 
colour also prevails on the chin ; throat scarlet ; the inner surface of the 
shoulder, and the edges of the inner vanes of quill feathers fulvous, the 
secondaries broadly tipt with black ; the inner vanes of the tail feathers, with 
the exception of the two centre ones, margined with dull brown. Bill and 
claws black ; legs and toes greenish black. Eyes crimson. 
Form, &c.— Bill broad at the base, slightly curved, the culmen carinated 
and moderately arched; nostrils oval and partially covered by recumbent 
wiry feathers or short black bristles. Wings, when closed, reach to about the 
commencement of the last third of the tail ; the third and fourth quill feathers 
the longest, the second and fifth nearly equal, the first about half the length 
of the third. One or two of the tertiary wing feathers nearly as long as the 
primaries. The extremity of the tail square or very slightly rounded. 
* So named from its general resemblance to Merops Bullockii. 
