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duller in colour and a trifle less in size. In a series of specimens, however, these differences do 
not hold good. 
Young (S. Africa, 21st October). — Differs from the adult in having the upper parts duller; 
the chestnut extends only to the fore part of the back, the rest of the back and rump being dull 
bluish green ; scapulars bluish grey, with a faint greenish tinge ; tail more blue in tinge than in 
the adult and nearly even, the central feathers not elongated ; throat of a paler and duller yellow 
than in the adult, the black band across the lower throat scarcely indicated ; rest of the under- 
parts paler and duller than in the adult bird. 
Ohs. The variations in the series of specimens I have examined are not great, consisting chiefly 
in the intensity of shade of colour, those from Africa being, as a rule, more richly coloured than 
examples from Europe. In both males and females the length of the central rectrices varies 
considerably, and, so far as I can judge, the older birds have these feathers longest. In some 
specimens the black band below the eye is bordered below with pale turquoise-blue : this is to a 
slight extent noticeable in a female from Casa Vieja, and much more so in a female from Abyssinia, 
whereas in an example from the Caucasus there is a very clearly defined broad pale blue line 
below the black band, and the frontal band is entirely pale blue. The females vary also much in 
intensity of colour, and in a large series it is impossible to separate the sexes. Mr. Seebohm 
(Brit. B. vol. ii. p. 324), in his usual anxiety to try and make every one believe that he alone 
of all naturalists is infallible, says that I “ fail to point out the most important characters which 
distinguish the male from the female.” Had he taken the trouble to examine a series instead of 
blindly adopting Naumann’s views (Vog. Deutschl. v. p. 466) respecting the difference in the 
sexes, he would have seen that in a series the sexes cannot with certainty be distinguished by any 
external character. I have now before me five carefully sexed females and six males, and find 
that some of the males have the central rectrices shorter than the females, and in one female from 
Shiraz they are as long as in any male I have examined. As regards the chestnut on the back, 
there is a trace of green on several examples of both sexes, and in one female from Abyssinia and 
another from Spain there is no trace whatever of any green in the chestnut ; and, indeed, both 
these females are as richly coloured as any male in the series. Thus in a series the characters 
cited by Naumann and Mr. Seebohm, viz. that the female “has the two central tail-feathers not 
so long, the plumage is not so brilliant, and the chestnut on the back is in many places suffused 
with green,” will not hold good. 
I may add that, in both sexes, I find there is a variation in the colour of the tail, it being 
much greener in some birds than in others, and some examples vary considerably from others in 
the intensity of shade of colour of the underparts. 
In measurements the variation is, on the whole, not much, but African specimens are some- 
what smaller than European-killed examples. The variation in size of those I have measured is — 
culmen T5-T6, wing 5-6-6T, tail 4-4-5-0, tarsus 04. 
This, the common European Bee-eater, is generally distributed throughout Southern Europe, and 
is equally numerous in Northern Africa, ranging even into South Africa, as far south as the Cape 
Colony, and in Asia it is found as far east as the North-west Provinces of India. As a straggler 
