80 
In Portugal the Bee-eater is very common throughout the summer; and in Spain it is 
exceedingly numerous. I met with it commonly in Catalonia in May ; and Colonel Irby writes 
(Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 65) as follows : — “ This bird did not appear to me to be quite so common in 
Morocco at the end of April as on the Spanish side of the Straits, where during April, May, 
J une, and J uly it is one of the most conspicuous birds in the country ; at that season Andalucia 
without Bee-eaters would be like London without Sparrows. Everywhere they are to be seen; 
and their single note, tcerrp , heard continually repeated, magnifies their numbers in imagination. 
Occasionally they venture into the centre of towns when on passage, hovering round the orange- 
trees and flowers in some patio or garden. Crossing the Straits for the most part in the early 
part of the day, flight follows flight for hours in succession. When crossing at Gibraltar they 
sometimes skim low down to settle for a moment on a bush or a tree, but generally go straight 
on, often almost out of sight ; but their cry always betrays their presence in the air. My dates 
of the first arrivals noticed are the 7th of April 1868, 4th of April 1869, 1st April 1870, 29th 
of March 1871, 26th March 1872, 28th of March 1874. They were observed passing in great 
numbers from the 10th to the 14tli of April in three consecutive years, the greatest quantity 
arriving on the 10th ; so, in Spanish fashion, I christened that date £ St. Bee-eater’s day.’ The 
latest flight I ever saw going north was on the 7th of May. Having remained at Gibraltar once 
only during July and August, I had but that opportunity of watching the return migration, 
which appeared during the last week in July and also on the 10th and 12th of August, the last 
being noticed on the 29th of that month, all, with few exceptions, being heard passing at night. 
The first arrivals, as is the case with all migrants, are those which remain to breed in the 
immediate neighbourhood.” 
This species is recorded hy Yon Homeyer from the Balearic Islands ; and it is tolerably 
common all along the coasts of the Mediterranean, but rarer further inland. In Savoy it is only 
of rare and irregular appearance, being principally met with along the valleys of the Elio no and 
the Isere ; but in Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia it breeds in many parts, arriving late in April or 
early in May. 
Mr. A. B. Brooke says (Ibis, 1873, p. 236) that in Sardinia, “from about the 17th of April, 
large flocks began to appear, flying very high in a northerly direction. The first arrivals seemed 
all to pass on further north ; and it was quite a week later before they began to settle in the 
south of the island. On their migration they keep up their soft musical note, which can be 
heard a long distance off. Large numbers breed in the island.” 
Mr. C. A. Wright states (Ibis, 1864, p. 73), in Malta “it arrives in April and May in large 
flocks ; and its peculiar gurgling note may be heard at a long distance. Towards evening they 
settle to roost on the carob-trees, and nestle so close to one another that I have known as many 
as twenty or thirty to be brought down at one shot. Three were seen in 1861 as late as the 7th 
June. In Gozo they have been observed to lay their eggs in the sand. They reappear in autumn.” 
In Southern Germany it occurs, as a rule, only as a somewhat rare visitant. Hr. Eritsch speaks 
of it as being an uncommon bird in Bohemia ; hut it is said to have bred there, for Yoboril writes 
that it nested in a vineyard near one of the cemeteries of Prague, and according to Eierlinger it 
bred on the Pardubic estate some years ago. Specimens have, according to Lokaj, been obtained 
at Kumburg, according to Palliardi near Prague in 1842, and according to Hromadko in 1847 at 
the foot of the Kuneticer mountain and near the Eorest-house in Baab. Gloger states also that 
a pair nested near Olilau in Silesia; according to Yon Homeyer (Naumannia, 1851, p. 65) a nest 
was found in June 1834 in Wiirtemberg; and Jackel states (Naumannia, 1856, p. 152) that one 
