Eev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 83 
hollow tree in Bashan, near Gadara, on the 6th of May. It is 
noticed by Bussell among the birds of Aleppo. 
The Bee-eater ( Merops apiaster ), though far more numerous 
in individuals than the Boiler, is less universally distributed, 
living, however, in large societies in every part of the country. 
Unlike its smaller congener Merops viridis, it does not fre¬ 
quently perch, but remains for hours on the wing, skimming, 
swallow-like, up and down a nullah or wady, or systematically 
ranging and quartering a barley plain in pursuit of insects on 
the wing. Seen athwart the sunbeams as they pass overhead, 
their colour has the appearance of burnished copper. They feed 
as well as breed in colonies, preferring low banks to the steeper 
declivities, and seeming to rely for protection against lizards and 
other enemies on the structure and turnings of their dwellings 
rather than on their position. I have taken the eggs from a 
nest in the side of a mere low sand mound on the plain, out of 
which I startled the bird by riding over its hole. 
The Bee-eater does not, so far as I can ascertain, utilize the 
borings of the previous year; whether from the number of para¬ 
sitic insects it leaves behind, or from the fact that the lizards 
generally squat in the vacant dwellings, I cannot say. Some 
authors have stated that it lines its nest with the elytra and legs 
of beetles. This I conceive is quite a mistake, and to be classed 
with the similar error respecting our Kingfisher applying fish¬ 
bones to the same purpose. When the eggs are first laid, there 
are no insect-remains to be found; but as the female continues 
to sit, the debris of her meals becomes heaped around her, and 
in old nests one might generally fill a quart pot with the elytra 
of the Coleoptera on which the young have been reared. There 
is an excellent description of its nesting-habits by Mr. Salvin 
(Ibis, 1859, p. 303), to which I have nothing to add. It is 
called “warwar” by the natives, from its cry, and is men¬ 
tioned by Bussell as being considered delicate eating by the 
Syrians. 
Our Palestine experience will not throw much light on the 
habits of the two other species which occur there; for Merops 
agyptius , Forsk., was not found by me during this expedition 
(though I shot it in the Jordan valley in 1858),and Mr.Cochrane 
a 2 
