BEE-EATERS AXD SWALLOWS. 
5 
selves carnivorous, or hawk for their prey in the 
bushes or on the leaves, and others are to be sought 
for in the corollas of plants, into which they have 
plunged for the sake of the sweet juices which accu- 
mulate there.* 
The plumage of these birds is extremely beautiful, 
rich and metallic in its lustre, and very firm in texture. 
They get their English name of Bee-eater from their 
food consisting principally of bees, wasps, hornets, 
and other insects of comparatively long and rapid 
flight. They dig holes to a considerable depth in the 
banks of rivers, wherein to deposit their eggs and 
rear their brood. Their feet, which are powerless in 
assisting them to find their food, or to aid in its cap- 
ture, become effective instruments in excavating a 
hole in a soft bank for the important office of incu- 
bation. The young birds continue for a long time in 
the nest after they are hatched, and they are fed there 
by the parents. In proportion as the plumage that 
is to be produced is firm or lax, the time that their 
young remain in their nest is long or short. That of 
the partridge and plover is loose or downy, and the 
young are able to leave the nest almost as soon as 
they are hatched ; but the plumage of the Bee-eater 
is compact and stiff, and some time is required for the 
production of the delicate tissue of vessels which is 
necessary for the firm structure of the Bee-eater’s 
feathers. It is on these compact, and firm feathers 
that the rays of the sun appear to act most power- 
fully, for they are generally the most highly coloured 
and lustrous ; and those birds that are the most ex- 
* ^Tatural History of Birds. 
