48 
Adult female. — •Resembles the male. 
Young (Nile below Khartoum). — Differs from the adult in not haying the central rectrices 
elongated, and in being generally duller in colour ; the black portions of the plumage have small 
light edgings to the feathers, the dorsal feathers have paler margins, and the throat is tinged with 
sulphur-yellow ; the black pectoral band is not margined below with blue, only a few of the 
feathers haying narrow blue borders. 
This Bee-eater is only found in the Ethiopian Region, ranging from Khartoum and Abyssinia 
down to Zanzibar on the eastern side of the continent, and Senegambia on the west side down to 
Angola, but does not occur in South Africa. 
According to Heuglin ( l . c.) it “ seems, like most of its allies, to be a migrant or partial 
migrant in North-east Africa. It is also gregarious, and we observed it in the Bescharin 
Mountains northwards to 20° N. lat., but on the Nile not above 16°. In the Bogos country, on 
the Abyssinian and Danakil coasts, in Kordofan and on the White Nile we met with it between 
July and December. It frequents both the forests and the steppes. In September the males 
were fresh moulted. According to Brehm this Bee-eater is shy and wary and lives singly ; but I 
met with it exclusively in flocks, which scattered during the day to reassemble in the mornings 
and evenings. It does not, however, collect in such large flocks as do Merops superciliosus and 
II. nubicus. Their call-note is also different from that of their larger allies, being softer and more 
flute-like.” 
Messrs. Einsch and Hartlaub say (Yog. Ost-Afr. p. 186) that “ with the exception of the 
southern parts it is found throughout the chief portion of tropical Africa, viz. in Senegal (coll. 
JBrogden , Latham, Leid. Mus.), Casamanze (Verreaux), Sierra Leone (Jardme), Old Calabar 
(Jardine), river Niger (Forbes), Gold Coast (Fel, Weiss), Grand Bassam (Orijon), Gaboon 
{Verreaux), Ogobai river (DuChaillu), Angola (Henderson), Senaar, south of 16° N. lat. (Brehm), 
Kordofan (Fetherick), Abyssinian coast-region (Heuglin), Winayoore, 180 miles from Massowah 
(Haubeny), Djur and Bongo (Heuglin), Blue and White Nile (. Antinori ) ; in the east observed by 
Yon Heuglin at Tadjura on the Danakil coast of Somali-land, and by Baron von der Decken said 
to occur in Zanzibar.” 
Dr. Hartmann (J. f. O. 1866, p. 202) records it as common both on the Blue and White Nile 
and as found in the gardens of Khartoum, where he obtained a male bird in full nuptial dress in 
August 1861. Mr. Blanford (Geol. & Zool. of Abyssinia, p. 321) did not find it on the coasts of 
Abyssinia in December, January, and Eebruary, but with some other species it migrated into the 
country in the spring, and was abundant throughout Samhar in June and July. He observed it 
as far inland as Rairo in Habab, but it appeared to be restricted to the tropical coast-region. He 
adds that it usually keeps to trees, but he has seen it settle on the ground in company with Merops 
viridis. According to Mr. Nicholson (P. Z. S. 1878, p. 355) it occurs at Darra-Salam, opposite 
Zanzibar; and Mr. Sharpe remarks (P. Z. S. 1873, p. 712) that Mr. Wakefield sent several speci- 
mens from Mombas, showing that it is not uncommon there. On the west coast Lichtenstein 
records it from Senegambia. Messrs. Sharpe, Shelley and Buckley, and Hssher record it from 
the Gold Coast. Messrs. Shelley and Buckley state that it is very common and generally 
distributed; and Mr. Ussher writes (Ibis, 1874, p. 48) that it is “exceedingly common in every 
