42 
defined and rich in colour, hut the blue and black on the throat are merely indicated, and. the rest 
of the underparts are dirty white washed with blue-green ; tail rather uneven, most of the feathers 
not having reached their proper length ; central rectrices only partly grown and shorter than the 
remainder; bill smaller and weaker than in the specimen above described. Culmen 1*05, from 
nostril to tip 0*7, wing 3*35, tail 3*1, tarsus 0*48. 
Until comparatively lately nothing was known respecting this Bee-eater beyond what was written 
by Hemprich and Ehrenberg ; and the only specimens known were the two above described, 
obtained by these gentlemen at Gumfudde in Arabia. When in Paris, however, about three 
years ago, I spent a day in the Museum at the J ardin des Plantes, looking over the specimens 
which they have in skins packed away in drawers ; and just before leaving I found a drawer in 
which, I was informed, were stowed a lot of bad skins, to be thrown away. These I thought it 
advisable to look over, and was told that if I found any amongst them that I could make use of, 
I might have them. After some time I found, to my great delight and utter astonishment, a 
skin of Merops cyanophrys, and of course examined the whole lot most carefully, and was rewarded 
by finding four more, although badly skinned, yet quite free from moth and entire. Of these I 
was, thanks to the courtesy of Professor Milne-Edwards, allowed to have two in exchange for 
some other skins required by the Museum ; and on my return to England I had these relaxed and 
made up into quite good skins. So far as I know, these five specimens (three of which are still 
in the Paris Museum, and two in my possession) and the two in Berlin are the only examples 
known to be in Europe at the present time. Hemprich and Ehrenberg obtained the two 
specimens in the Berlin Museum in the mountains of Gumfudde in Arabia, where von Heuglin 
says it appears to be common : the five birds which I found in the Paris Museum were 
obtained by M. Botta at Senaar, and were labelled by him Merops viridissimus ; as they 
were badly made up skins they were evidently thrown aside without being examined and 
compared with other specimens. Compared with Merops viridis the present species is very 
distinct ; the central tail-feathers are much less elongated (the two specimens in my collection 
having the central rectrices extending 06 and 0*9 inch beyond the lateral ones) and but little 
attenuated ; the upper parts are rich deep parrot-green, with the faintest rufous tinge in some 
specimens only, others having no trace of it ; and in both my specimens the frontal blue band is 
very broad and the underparts are bluish green ; in one specimen before me this difference in the 
coloration of the underparts is very striking, and besides there is no trace of green on the 
throat. 
There is no doubt that this bird is the Merops cupreus of Ehrenberg, although Cabanis 
makes Merops cupreus a synonym of Melittophagus pusillus ; for the types in the Berlin Museum 
are still marked M. cupreus , and, besides, Merops pusillus does not occur in Arabia, whence these 
birds came. 
The specimens figured and described are the types in the Berlin Museum, which were, 
by the courtesy of the late Professor Peters, sent to me so that I could describe them and have 
them figured. 
