FOREIGN BEES. 
30 ) 
the irritated, insects by a peculiarly tough skin.* 
The European Bee-Eater ( Merops apiaster ) is an 
elegant bird, and clothed in brilliant colours, but with 
a stridulous and somewhat disagreeable crv. It 
feeds on insects, especially bees, wasps, hornets, 
&c., and also on the smaller tribes of gnats and flies. 
It inhabits the warmer parts of Europe, South Africa, 
and is seldom met with in the northern regions of 
the globe ; while it abounds in Southern Russia, par- 
ticularly about the rivers Don and Wolga, whose 
banks are sometimes perforated to a great extent by 
their excavations.t 
* Kirby’s Bridgewater Treatise. 
•f Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Article Ornithology, 
FINIS. 
