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Young (Pantec).— Deep, rather dull black, the back glossed to some extent with greenish 
blue; rump and upper tail-coverts dull cobalt-blue; wings and tail as in the adult but duller; 
chin and upper throat glossed with coppery green, a single red feather showing here and there ; 
breast and rest of the underparts marked with dull cobalt-blue. 
The Black-hacked Bee-eater inhabits the west coast of Africa only, where it is met with from 
Sierra Leone down to Angola. Judging from the numbers of specimens which have been sent in 
collections from the Gold Coast, it appears to be very abundant in that region ; and Governor TJssher, 
who collected there for some time, writes (Ibis, 1874, p. 48):—' “ This very beautiful little Bee-eater 
is tolerably common in Pantee and is occasionally seen in company with M. albicollis ; hut whereas 
the latter species keeps very low, affecting small hushes or the lower branches of trees, the present 
bird invariably selects the highest vantage-point it can find, a naked branch in preference to a 
leafy one, from which it makes occasional sallies after its prey. I have never observed more than 
three or four together, whereas M. albicollis is sometimes met with in very large numbers at a 
time. The vicinity of water appears to be selected by M. gularis in preference to any other 
situation.” Dr. Beichenow found it generally distributed on the Gold Coast, and says (J. f. 0. 
1875, p. 19) that he met with it in all parts of the west coast of Africa visited by him, from the 
Gold Coast to the Gaboon; and DuChaillu sent many specimens from the latter locality, where it 
is evidently a common species ; below this it appears to become more sparingly distributed. Petit 
obtained it at Louemba Chissambo in the Congo district ; and, so far as I can ascertain, there 
is but one record of its presence in Angola, viz. that of a specimen in immature dress sent by 
Mr. A. de Ponseca from Cazengo in Angola to Professor Barboza du Bocage ( cf, Orn. d’ Angola, 
p. 94). 
But little is recorded respecting the habits of this Bee-eater, and I have never succeeded in 
procuring its eggs or in obtaining any reliable data respecting its breeding-habits ; and from what 
Dr. Reich enow (whose notes I give below) says, it appears probable that it nests in hollow trees. 
If this should prove to be the case, it will be a most interesting fact, as tending to show that it 
differs materially in its nesting-habits from any of its allies. Indeed, Dr. Reichenow remarks 
(l. c.) that he found it to “ differ considerably from its congeners in its habits.” “ I never met with 
it,” he says, “ on the open steppe, but wherever high bushes and trees grow together or cover large 
districts, or else in the open places of the large forests, it is to be found, and it also ascends to a 
considerable height in the mountains. I always found it resident in pairs or singly, and it does not 
seem to migrate; in fact it has no reason to do so like its allies. I believe that this Bee-eater 
breeds in holes in trees, for I often saw males in the forests, whose mates were probably busy 
with the cares of nidification, and there were no suitable places for that purpose but holes of 
trees anywhere within reach. In fresh-killed specimens the female has the back of a lighter 
b lackish green, whereas in the male this part is almost pure black. In skins this difference soon 
disappears.” 
The specimens figured are in adult plumage and are, together with those described, in my own 
collection. 
