67 
As above stated, Mr. Ayres met with this species in Natal; and Mr. T. E. Buckley, who met 
with it in the Matabili country, writes (Ibis, 1874, p. 363), “ This species was only observed on one 
occasion, when it appeared to be migrating. On that day I saw several large flocks hawking 
about after flies and occasionally settling on the small bushes.” 
Mr. Ayres says (Ibis, 1861, p. 132) : — “ These birds take their food on the wing, and their 
flight somewhat resembles that of the Swallows ; they frequently alight on the trees and bushes to 
rest ; during flight they utter a harsh grating note. I believe they only inhabit the coast lands, 
and are migratory, appearing only in the summer months.” 
On the east coast of Africa, where Merops superciliosus is also found, it is somewhat difficult 
to define the range of the two species ; but M. persicus appears to occur in the Zambesi country, 
as there is a specimen in the British Museum obtained there by Bradshaw, and Captain Shelley 
possesses two examples obtained at Mahalaka by the same collector. 
In Asia this Bee-eater ranges into Western India. Mr. C. W. Wyatt obtained it at El 
Noweyba, on the peninsula of Sinai. Heuglin records it from Arabia, Captain Jones from 
Mesopotamia, and it is said to be common at Orenberg and on the shores of the Caspian and 
Aral and in Turkestan, in which last country Dr. Severtzoff states that it breeds. Mr. Blanford 
says he “ found M. persicus in great abundance in the country north-west of Bampur, in Baluchi- 
stan, and in Narmashir, the Persian district traversed on the road from Bampur to Bam, in the 
second and third weeks of April 1872. The birds were evidently migrating, and all which 
were shot were in superb plumage. Hume remarks that large numbers are seen in Sind at 
particular seasons, probably in the same manner, when migrating, and the bird has been observed 
as far east as Aligurh. On the Persian highlands I seldom saw this species, M. apiaster being 
much more abundant ; but a few miles from Tehran, on the 22nd August, I came upon a large 
scattered flock of Merops persicus, chiefly consisting of young birds. The place was a somewhat 
barren plain, with a few scattered shrubs and herbaceous plants ; and the birds settled on the ground, 
occasionally flying up to pursue insects. They may have been migrating, or preparing to migrate. 
De Eilippi obtained specimens at Miana and Nikbeg, between Kazvin and Tabriz ; and Menetries 
saw it on the banks of the Kur, in the Transcaucasian provinces of Bussia, a little north of the 
Persian frontier.” Capt. Wardlaw Bamsay observed large flocks on migration in Afghanistan, 
late in April and early in May. Captain Butler (Str. Eeath. iii. p. 457) observed it “ on several 
occasions near Deesa,” and remarks that it has a fine wild note, which it utters on the wing, and 
which much resembles the note of M. apiaster ; and Mr. Hume remarks that he has specimens or 
records of this bird, but only as a summer visitant, from both Northern and Southern Sind, Cutch, 
Kattiawar, Jodhpoor, and indeed the whole of Bajpootana. Mr. Scully observed it in Gilgit, 
between the 20th and 28th November, 1879, when several flocks passed the valley on migration 
southwards. Captain Marshall obtained it in the Aligurh and Mynpoorie districts in the North- 
west Provinces of India. Mr. B. M. Adam says (Str. Feath. i. p. 371) that “it is rarely seen 
about Sambhur, but about the tree- and scrub-jungle at Mata Pahar and the Marot hills it is very 
common. In the Marot hills the natives showed me the holes in which it breeds, about the 
beginning of the rains, and Capt. Bingham found it breeding in Upper India, at the Sultanpoor 
salt-works near Delhi, where hundreds maybe seen, but he did not observe a single M. philippensis” 
I am indebted to the last gentleman for the following notes : — " I know very little about this 
bird, having met with it only at Delhi, where, and to the country to the south of it, it comes in, 
in great numbers, in the beginning of the hot weather to breed. My observations led me to 
believe that all the young were out of the nests by July, when either all the old birds migrated, 
