4 X 4 
The Hijlory of ANIMALS, 
Ifpida capite variegato , peSlore cceruleo . 
The blue-hreafted Ifpida , with a variegated head 
This is alfo a very beautiful bird 5 it is larger than our common king-fifher, and in¬ 
deed equals the black-bird in fize : the head is very large, in proportion to the body, 
and is remarkably deprefled ; the eyes are large, and have a very bold and fierce af- 
pedl; their iris is of an extreamly bright and beautiful red : the beak is very long and 
large, a little crooked, black throughout, fharp at the point, and very like that of the 
common king-fifher in fhape : the noftrils are oblong, and the tongue is fmali and 
lacerated. 
The head is very elegantly variegated in it’s colouring 5 the front of it, about the 
bafe of the beak, is of a mo ft elegant bright blue, with an admixture of green, but, 
in the midft, juft above the noftrils, there is fome white : the crown of the head is 
of a reddifh-brown, and in fome there is a caft of greenifh; this is the difference of 
the fexes: on each fide of the head there runs a black line from the angles of the 
mouth by the eyes, and quite to the hinder part of the head $ and from this, on each 
fide downward to the top of the throat, the colour is yellow, but it is extreamly pale, 
about the colour of flour of brimftone, only not fo bright: the neck and fhoulders 
&re of a very elegant hue ; it is green, but with a confiderable admixture of red blend- 
ed in it: the whole under fide of the body, the breaft, under part of the neck and 
belly, are of a beautiful blue : this is deepeft on the neck, and of all is the moft 
deep, where it joins the yellow under the bafe of the beak j on the breaft it is paler, 
and yet more diluted on the belly, and througohut it has an admixture of red in it; but 
this is very faint, and in fome birds, probably the male, there is a tinge of green 
with the blue. 
The wings are moderately long; the large feathers are all of them black at the ex¬ 
tremities, and the ten firft have behind the black a fpace of blue, with a caft of green: 
the middle ones are of a very bright and beautiful orange colour, and the larger orders 
of the covering feathers of the wings are of the fame colour, but thofe on the very top 
are bluifh : the feathers of the fhoulders, which are long, and hang down on the fldes, 
are of a pale whitifh-yellow, and are deeper at the tip than elfewhere. This is the 
general colouring of this elegant bird; but the feveral individuals of the fpecies, though 
they agree in the principal things, yet differ greatly in particulars; fome have more of 
the blue, fome more of the green ; others have more, others lefs, of the reddifh tinge 5 
and, though it is always eafy to know the fpecies folely by the colouring, yet the vari¬ 
ation is furpriftng. 
The tail is moderately long; it is four or five inches in length, and is compofed of 
twelve feathers: it is blue, but there is fome greennefs in the outer feathers; the two 
middle feathers run out farther than any of the reft, and terminate acutely. 
The legs and feet are formed exa&ly, as thofe of the common king-flflher: the legs 
are very fhort but thick, and the toes are proportioned and connected, as in that fpe¬ 
cies 5 they are of a pale brownifh-red : the claws are long and black. 
This elegant bird is a native of Italy, and of the iflands of the Archipelago, and 
many other places, but it is not met with in England : at Rome it is brought to 
market; and Bellonius fays, that it is as common in Crete as our ordinary fmali birds 
here : all the writers on birds have defcribed it. Bellonius, Gefner, Aldrovand, and 
Charieton call it Merops j Willughby and Ray, Merops and Apiafter. It feeds on 
beetles and other infedts. Ariftotle fays on bees, and all the reft of the naturalifts 
have followed him in this, and many of them feem to have fuppofed that it eat no¬ 
thing elfe. Bellonius tells us too, that it eats wheat, and other corn, and the feeds of 
feveral plants j and, as it is frequently feen about the fhores, it is probable that, like the 
king-fiftier, it feeds occafionally on fifh. It catches bees, and other flying infedts f 
while 
