54 
ALLEN’S naturalist’s LIBRARY. 
THE TRUE BEE-EATERS. FAMILY MEROPID^. 
There are no Sub-families among the Bee-Eaters, and con- 
sequently the whole of the five genera admitted by ornitholo- 
gists are placed under the heading of the Meropidce, the Family 
characters being the same as those of the Sub-order, given in 
detail above. 
THE LONG-TAILED BEE-EATERS. GENUS MEROPS. 
Merops, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 182 (1766). 
Type, M. apiaster, L. 
As most of the Bee-Eaters have the tail square or slightly 
forked, it is very easy to recognise a member of the genus 
Merops by the elongated central feathers of the tail, these being 
produced beyond the other tail-feathers, and somewhat pointed. 
About seventeen species of Merops are known to science, and 
they are distributed over Africa, India, and Australia, and ex- 
tend to the temperate portions of Europe and Northern Asia. 
I. THE COMMON BEE-EATER. MEROPS APIASTER. 
Merops apiaster, Linn. S. N. i. p. 182 (1766); Macg. Br. B. 
iii. p. 685 (1840); Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 155, pi. 295 
(1877) ; Newton, ed. Yarr. ii. p. 435 (1874) j B, O. U. 
List Br. B. p. 82 (1883); Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 321 
(1884) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part ix. (1888) ; Saunders, 
Man. Br. B. p. 273 (1889); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 
xvii. p. 63 (1892). 
Adult Male. — Crown of head and hind-neck chestnut, this 
colour overspreading the mantle and gradually disappearing 
on the scapulars and back, which are creamy-buff; lower back 
washed with blue ; the upper tail-coverts entirely pale blue ; 
forehead white, followed by a line of blue, which unites with a 
narrow eyebrow, which is first blue, and then shades off into 
green ; the crown separated from this blue eyebrow by a green 
shade ; lesser wing-coverts green, the rest of the coverts light 
chestnut, like the secondaries, which have black tips ; primary 
quills blue, blackish towards the tips, the inner secondaries 
green, bluish towards their ends ; tail-feathers green, edged 
with blue, the centre ones blue, greener near the base ; lores 
and a streak through the eye black, like the ear-coverts ; cheeks 
