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EUROPEAN BEE-EATER. 
Merops apiaster> Linnaeus. 
Above, rufous ; beneath, bright green ; chin, yellow, bor- 
dered with black ; rump, fulvous ; wings, green, the greater 
covers rufous. 
Merops apiaster, Auctorum ; Temm. Manuel , i. 420. — Le Gne- 
pier, Buff, PI. Enl. 938 *, Le Vaill. Ois. de Parad. iii. pi. 182. 
— Common or European Bee-eater of authors. 
The geographic range of this Bee-eater, the only 
species that visits Europe, appears to extend from 
the Cape of Good Hope to the central parts of 
Europe, beyond which, in a northerly direction, it 
must be considered, as in England, but an occasional 
or straggling visitor. M. Temminck is quite mis- 
taken in supposing that it is most abundant in 
France, for the birds which arrive there are only the 
remnant of those that escape the sportsman of Italy 
and Sicily, where great numbers are destroyed upon 
their first arrival from the African coast. In Sicily 
we have repeatedly seen them in flocks of from 
eight to thirty, low but rapidly skimming over 
the orange gardens and cultivated grounds. Al- 
though their flesh is tough and disagreeable, they 
are nevertheless shot by the Sicilians (who shoot 
every thing), with the hoopoes, orioles, quails, and 
other birds which migrate at the same season. Our 
Senegal specimens perfectly agree with those we 
brought from the Mediterranean. 
