THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
a dead tree, etc., usually in pairs, and will sally forth on a short flight, 
after any passing insect, only to return to the same place to eat it, in 
much the same manner as an Artamus. Although I have kept several 
hives of bees in my garden for many years, I have never known them to 
be troubled by these birds.” 
Mr. Frank S. Smith reports : “ This beautiful and curious bird eats, 
as its name implies, bees. But in the Victoria Valley, near Dunkeld 
(Vic.), where I found it fairly plentiful, a very observant bee-farmer told 
me that it is really a friend of the bee-keepers, for, though it certainly eats 
a few bees, it is death on the large dragon flies, who themselves are the 
veritable scourge of the bee-farmer and eat bees or rather suck them dry.” 
Mr. A. G. Campbell wrote me : “ In company with Mr. G. E. Shepherd, 
at SomerviUe, I visited a road cutting where several pairs of this bird 
had begun to drill nesting burrows in November 1906. This is the 
furthest south the species has been yet recorded.” 
Mr. E. J. Christian, also from Victoria, sends me the following notes : 
“ This bird is migratory and visits here in November. It rarely goes 
south of the Di^dde. It is generally around this part for the summer 
where it breeds. It does not do much harm to apiarists, and I think 
it attacks their enemies. A pair will sit in one place for a long while, 
preferably on a dry stick protruding from a green bough. I made 
some careful observations of one pair which were here for two or three 
weeks last summer. These two could always be found in the same 
place, and I used to watch them with the glasses. They would sit and 
watch, and as soon as a blowfly or beetle came past, the male would fly 
out and seize it and return to his mate and eat it. When the next came 
he would do likewise, but when he returned he held it out to her and 
she took it and ate it. I observed them also cateliing and eating the 
dragon fly, which I believe is a great enemy to apiarists. This pair of birds 
were very tame and took no notice of me at all. When disturbed, 
they utter notes very much like those of the Dotterel {Poltohyas australis). 
These birds go about in large flocks, and are often mistaken for a flock 
of parrots. Dates of arrival : Nov. 9, 1908 : Oct. 27, 1909.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby’s notes read : “A few years ago these beautiful birds 
used to nest annually in the sides of a cutting at Happy Valley, a few miles 
to the south of Adelaide, but I am afraid they have left that locality. They 
make their long resting burrows in the sides of creek cut-outs near 
Calhngton and other places on the eastern slopes of the Mt. Lofty Ranges, 
South Australia. I have also seen them at Nackarn, 200 miles north of 
Adelaide. These birds hawk for insects in much the same graceful manner 
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