324



S. Porter—Wanderings in the Far East



all my birds, I started to give each one a petrol bath before releasing it.

One or two could fly, but the others needed an awful lot of work before

they were anything like clean ; however, the petrol fumes were too

much for the birds, and after the messed parts had been ridded of the

adherence the birds appeared as if dead. There were twenty lovely

corpses in a row. I felt like a murderer. After a few hours the birds

seemed to “ come to ”, and as they regained their equilibrium I released

them. Most were nearly starving after their two days’ fast. However,

they were soon catching winged insects and seemed very much at home.

A few remained around the garden, but the strong-winged ones were

soon away. I often wondered if they flew back to Negri Sembilan,

where they were sent from.


Bee-Eaters are entirely unsatisfactory subjects for aviculture unless

one has unlimited patience and a large outdoor aviary for the summer

and a heated one for the winter. They seldom feed on insectivorous

food, and have to be supplied with live insects. Owing to the smallness

of the feet all their exercise is taken flying, and they never move about

on a perch. When forcibly feeding the birds I noticed a peculiar arrange¬

ment with regard to the beak, for so far it was exceedingly difficult to

open, being as tight as a clam ; after it was open for about half an inch

or so, a hinge arrangement seemed to give and the beak suddenly became

loose and could be moved about with ease. This is no doubt something

to do with the holding of insects. Bee-Eaters rank as one of the most

beneficial of tropical birds for they feed almost entirely on obnoxious

insects. In Europe I believe they do sometimes poach on the apiaries,

but not to a great extent. For grace of form and beauty these birds are

rivalled by few ; they are very homogeneous in form, but their colours

are exceedingly diverse, some of the African forms being amazingly

coloured.



(To be continued.)



