74 
M. Grandidier writes (Hist. Nat. Ois. Madag. p. 262) : — “ These Bee-eaters are common on all 
the coasts of Madagascar, where they inhabit the bush-covered plains, the hanks of water-courses, 
and the openings of forests. They do not occur on the hare mountains in the centre of the island, 
though one of our party saw one in the great valley of Ampatrana, where the Mangoko runs to 
the south of the fort of Modongy. Usually they are seen perched on a dead branch of an isolated 
tree, often on the points of the palisades surrounding the cattle-pens and some of the village 
houses. When they perceive an insect they dart on it and soon returning take up their old perch, 
and sometimes they skim along the water in search of their prey. Brom time to time they rise 
into the air and circle about like Swallows. Otherwise they resemble, in flight, habits, and cry, 
the Common Bee-eater, and like them they feed exclusively on insects, which they take on the wing ; 
and they nest in holes about a metre deep, which they bore with their long bill in the argillaceous 
or sandy banks of rivers, and which they line with dry herbs and feathers. Their eggs, usually 
two in number, are oval and pure white, measuring 25 by 22 mm. In the nesting- season they 
live in flocks. They collect in large numbers to roost on the same tree. Their moult appears to 
take place early in the dry season. They are not wild and are easily shot.” 
Brom the particulars respecting the habits of this species which I cite above, it will be seen 
that it does not differ from its close ally Merops persieus, either in its general habits or mode of 
nidification ; and, like that bird, it deposits pure white, roundish eggs, on the ground, at the end 
of a hole which it tunnels in a bank, usually in the vicinity of water. 
The specimens figured and described are in my own collection. 
In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 
E Mus. 11. E. Dresser. 
a. Madagascar, b. Anjuan, 1879 (Bewsher) . c. Transvaal (Ayres) . 
JE Mus. Brit. 
a. Madagascar, b. Madagascar ( Verreuux). c. Madagascar (Crossley). d. Angola (Sala). e. Angola (Monteiro). 
JE Mus. Tweeddale. 
a. Madagascar {Plant), b, $ . Mayotte, 6th January, 1864 ( Pollen Van Dam). 
E Mus. (J. E. Shelley. 
a. Melinda (Kirk), b, c, d. Pangani Eiver {Kirk), e. Grand Comoro (Kirk), f. Dar-es-Salaam ( E . C. Buxton), 
g. Madagascar (Crossley) . h. Anjuan Island (Kirk). 
E. Mus. A. Sf E. JNevoton. 
a, A ; b, ? . East coast of Madagascar (E. Newton), c, J ; d, $ . Anjuan, 1876 (Bewsher). 
