MEROPS ALBICOLLIS. 
WHITE-NECKED BEE-EATEE. 
Le Guepier h gorge blanche ou le Guepier Cuvier , Levaill. Hist. Hat. Guep. p. 3 7, pi. ix. (1807). 
Merops albicollis, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. xiv. p. 15 (1816) ; Yieill. Tabl. Encycl. et Method, p. 393 (1820) ; Gray., 
Gen. of B. i. p. 86 (1846) ; Strickland, P.Z. S. 1850, p. 216; Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 161 (1850); von 
Mull. J. f. Orn. 1855, p. 10; Hartlaub, Orn. W.-Afr. p. 39 (1857) ; Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Merops, p. 5 
(1863) ; Heuglin, J. f. O. 1864, p. 334; Sharpe, Ibis, 1869, p. 192 ; Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 201 (1869) ; 
G. R. Gray, Hand-1, of B. i. p. 99, no. 1209 (1869) ; Blanford, Geol. &Zool. of Abyss, p. 321 (1870) ; Pinsch 
& Hartlaub, Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 186 (1870) ; Finsch, Trans. Zool. Soc. vii. p. 224 (1870) ; Shelley & Buckley, 
Ibis, 1872, p. 286 ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 712 ; Ussher, Ibis, 1874, p. 48 ; Reichenow, J. f. O. 1875, p. 18 ; 
Nicholson, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 355 ; Bocage, Orn. (P Angola, p. 89 (1881). 
Merops cuvieri, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 15 (1823) ; Lesson, Traite d’Orn. p. 238 (1831); Smith, S. Afr. Quart. 
Journ. 2nd ser. part ii. p. 320 (1834) ; Licht. Nomencl. Ay. p. 66 (1854). 
Merops savignyi, Swains. Zool. Illustr. ii. pi. lxxvi. (1821-22, nec And.). 
Aerops albicollis (Vieill.), Reichenb. Meropinse, p. 82 (1852) ; Cab. Mus. Hein. ii. p. 137 (1859-60). 
Figures notabiles. 
Levaillant, Hist. Nat. Guep. pi. ix. ; Swainson, Zool. Illustr. ii. pi. lxxvi. 
Hab. Africa, from Khartoum to Zanzibar, and Senegambia to Angola. 
Ad. pileo, fascia per oculos ducta et torque pectorali nigris, hoc suhtiis cseruleo marginato : fronte, gula et super- 
ciliis albis : corpore supra viridi- cseruleo tincto : nucha sordide aurautiaca : uropygio et cauda caeruleis : 
remigibus rufescentibus extus viridi tinctis : primariis internis et secundariis nigro terminatis : corpore 
subtus albido viridi tincto : rostro nigro : iride coccinea : pedibus fuscis. 
Juv. sordidior : rectricibus centralibus nec elongatis : gula sulphureo tincta, torque pectorali nigro nec cseruleo 
marginato. 
Adult male (Eylet, Abyssinia). — Crown, a broad stripe through the eye, and a broad hand 
across the throat deep black ; lower nape and fore part of the hack apple-green, with a golden 
orange tinge ; rest of the upper parts green tinged with blue ; quills rufous, externally margined 
with green, all except the first three or four broadly terminated with black, the elongated inner 
secondaries being, however, except at the base, almost entirely blue ; tail blue with a faint greenish 
tinge, the central rectrices much elongated and attenuated ; forehead, a broad band over the eye, 
and the upper throat white ; the black band across the throat bordered below with blue ; under- 
parts otherwise white, tinged, chiefly on the breast and flanks, with green ; bill black ; feet dull 
brownish ; iris red. Total length about 11 inches, culmen 1‘5, wing 4'2, tail 7'0, central 
rectrices extending 3’5 inches beyond the lateral ones, tarsus 062. 
