79 
some years before 1837, rests on the authority of Kidd (Entomol. Mag. iv. p. 270), and Hewitson 
states (Zool. s. s. p. 2027) that there was an example at Oatlands feeding on yewberries in the late 
autumn of 1869, In May 1879 a pair was shot near Derby (Zool. 1879, p. 461), one of which is 
in Mr. Whitaker’s collection. As regards Ireland, Vigors many years ago reported (Zool. Journ. 
i. p. 589) one obtained in the winter of 1820, on the sea-coast near Wexford, in which county 
Mr. Watters says that another was procured in the summer of 1848 ; while Dr. J . D. Marshall, in 
1829, recorded (Mag. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 395) one killed in Wicklow a few years before, and according 
to Thompson, Dr. Graves, writing in 1830, mentioned one more obtained in that island, but 
without giving date or locality.” 
In Norway, Mr. Collett informs me, the Bee-eater has not been known to have occurred ; but 
it has on several occasions been recorded from Sweden. Professor Sundevall writes that one was 
shot in June 1816 at Nedraby, a Swedish mile north of Ystad, and was in company with another, 
which was not secured. One was obtained in Hogsater parish, Dalsland, and presented to the 
Stockholm Museum by the Bev. O. Pryxell. A small flock of six individuals appeared on the 
19th May, 1858, at Tafvelsas, near Wexio, and remained for three days in a garden. Two of 
these were shot by the Rev. N. Wieslander, who presented one to the Stockholm, and the other 
to the Lund Museum. This Bee-eater has even been found within the Arctic circle, as a female 
was, according to Mr. Meves (Ofv. K. Vet.-Ak. Eorh. 1868, p. 264), obtained about a mile south 
of Muonioniska in Lapland, on the 3rd June, 1865. It has not been observed in Pinland, and is 
of rare occurrence in Northern Russia. Mr. Sabanaeff says that it breeds, though rarely, in the 
Voronege Government, and it is stated to occur near Moscow. Bogdan off met with it as far as 
Samara ; Pallas says that it ranges up to the mouth of the Kama river ; and according to Evers- 
mn.nn (J. f. O. 1853, p. 291) it ranges northward to Orenberg and the Lower Samara, where the 
Ik flows into that river. In Southern Russia it is very common and breeds numerously in many 
localities. According to Mr. Taczanowski it is of accidental and rare occurrence in Poland, and 
he only knows of one instance of its capture in the Lublin Government, but it has been not 
unfrequently observed in the Lkraine and Podolia. Borggreve records it from various parts of 
North Germany, being most common in Silesia, where, according to Gloger, a pair is said to have 
bred near Ohlau, in 1792. It has been met with in Westphalia and Posen; and Tobias says that 
it occurs at Hirschberg almost every summer. In Denmark and the Danish Provinces it is a 
very rare straggler. Mr. Collin states (Skand. Eugl. p. 131) that it has once been met with in 
Holstein; two were shot on the 5th June 1840, at Gjorslev, in Seeland; and a lady caught two at 
Klitterne, near Svinekloer. Hornemann states that it has occurred in Eyen ; and Air. Steenberg 
received one in spirits that had been shot on Anholt in May 1853. It has been obtained on the 
island of Heligoland ; but does not appear to have occurred in Holland or Belgium. It visits 
Northern Erance, however; and Messrs. Degland and Gerbe state that a flock of fifteen or twenty 
individuals established themselves, early in July 1840, at Port Remy, near Abbeville, in a crag 
already perforated by Sand-Martins, where M. Baillon obtained a sitting female and her eggs. 
With this exception its occurrences are principally confined to the southern districts, some pairs 
nesting in Provence every year, although the majority are birds of passage. M. Adrien Lacroix 
says that it occurs accidentally on passage, from time to time, in the Haute-Gar onne. Two were 
obtained in May 1868 near Portet, about ten kilometres south of Toulouse ; and the following 
year a fine male was shot in April at Saint-Simon, eight kilometres from Toulouse, and was in 
company with five or six others. Two have, he says, to his knowledge, been obtained in the 
Ilautes-Pyrenees ; he received one from Castres in May 1869 ; and it occurs every year, on 
passage, more or less numerously, in the Pyrenees orientales. 
N 
