GREEN- THROATED BEE-EATER. 83 
three others, under the common name of Merops 
indicus, and yet not one of the descriptions will at all 
apply exclusively to our bird. Without, however, 
troubling the reader with all the details, we can 
safely assert that it is not the bird so named by 
Edwards, whose figure and description is the origi- 
nal authority for the Merops indicus of Linnams, 
Latham, and all subsequent writers. This will be 
abundantly obvious to all who go back to this 
authority, and there compare the birds that have 
been assimilated to that of Edwards. These errors, 
by being copied and recopied by each succeeding 
compiler, do more to retard our knowledge of species 
than if the birds had never been recorded. They 
make error, as it were, perpetual. In cases like 
these, our only plan is to begin anew, and after 
retaining the specific name of indicus to the bird 
figured by Edwards, describe all others that will 
not accord therewith as separate species. 
We received this Merops, so far as we can re- 
collect, with several other Senegal birds ; but having 
lost our notes upon it, we would wish this locality 
to he considered as doubtful. 
Size small, not much exceeding M. erythropte- 
rus ; the general colour, both above and below, is 
a uniform pea-green, haling a golden or yellow 
gloss in certain lights, particularly on the nape and 
sides of the head, originating from the feathers, in 
these parts, being ferruginous at their base; this 
fulvous tinge is likewise, as in many others of the 
genus, very strong on the quills and tail. Chin, 
