Genus ?
55. - t— - BICOLOR.
White-bellied Swallow.
Another American form, for which a generic title has not yet been proposed. I t is said that a specimen
has been killed near D erby; vide Wolley, in the ‘ Zoologist ’ for 1853, p. 3806, and Newton in ‘ Proceedings
o f the Zoological Society’ for 1860, p. 131.
Family MEROPIDiE.
The members o f this family are among the most ornamental o f the Insessorial birds, and are as elegant
in form as they are beautiful in colour. Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia are the countries in which one
o r other o f the not very numerous species are found. As the thinness o f their plumage and the slightness of
their form would indicate, they appear to be sensitive to cold; and most o f them are resident in the tropical
or warmer portions o f the countries mentioned, though one species, the Merops apiaster, is very common in
Spain. Insects of the various orders constitute their chief food. The species have been divided into several
genera.
Genus M e r o p s .
The species inhabiting Europe is the type o f this form.
56. M ero p s a p ia s t e r . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. II. PI. IX.
B e e -e a t e r .
Although there are many instances o f the occurrence o f this bird in Britain, it can only be regarded as an
accidental visitor; and so uncertain are its visits, that years may elapse without an example being seen. It
is common, and breeds in Spain, where it deposits its eggs in holes of sandbanks.
Family ALCEDINIDAE.
The distribution o f the Kingfishers may be said to be almost universal; but o f the 125 species described,
few are to be found in the New World, the family being very feebly represented in America. The various
species have been much subdivided and received many generic appellations, their structure being as diverse
as their modes o f life and the kinds o f food upon which they subsist. Water is by no means essential to the
existence o f many o f them, especially those which dwell amidst the scoriae o f volcanoes and on hot and
parched plains,—lizards and insects being the food of those affecting the former situations, while the huge
Dacelos (frequenting the latter) eat snakes, small quadrupeds, and insects. Fish appears to be the chief
food of the members of the restricted genus Alcedo, of which our well-known Kingfisher is the type.
Genus A lced o .
57. A l c ed o i s p i d a ..................................................................................................................................... Vol. II. PI. X.
K in g f ish e r .
A resident species; common in all the central portion of England, more scarce in Scotland, and not a
common bird in Ireland. Feeds on fish, crustaceans, and insects. It is the only species which habitually
lives in Britain and on the continent o f Europe, beyond which its range is not very far extended. Other
species o f this form inhabit India, some o f its islands, and Africa.
Genus C ery l e .
A group of Kingfishers, of about a dozen or fifteen species.
58. C e ry l e alcyon.
This American bird has been twice kilted in Ireland—once in the county of Meath in October 1845, and
again in the county of Wicklow in November o f the same year (Thompson, ‘ N atural History of Ireland,
Birds,’ vol. i. p. 373). These Transatlantic birds must be regarded as interlopers, since they have no just
claims to a place in our fauna.
Family CORACIID./E.
No member of this family has yet been seen in the New Wo rld ; and the Old may claim the form as one
of its finest ornithological productions. There are even fewer species of this family than of the Afa-o/Afe;
and those few are all warm-conntry birds. They are abundant in Africa; one or two species frequent India;
others the islands of the Eastern archipelago. Up to this time no true Roller has been found in Australia,
where it is represented by the members of the genus Eurystomus.
Genus C oracias.
Vol. II. PI. XI.
59. C oracias g a r r u l a ........................................................................................................
R o l l e r .
Although the Roller is a regular summer visitant to the centre of Germany and other parts of the
Continent, its occurrences in England have been few and far between; here, therefore, it can only be
regarded as an accidental visitor. It has nevertheless been occasionally killed in the three kingdoms.