M E E O E S A P JA c
J.GouULSt, ffC Itu hU r, del el, h/A
L im i .
MEROPS API ASTER, U m .
Bee-eatc-r.
Merops »piaster, Linn. Mus. Ad. Fr., tom. ii. p. 21.
— chrysocephatus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nut., tom. i: p. 463.
schifylinjjha, Forsk. Faun. Arab., 1.
hmgam, Brehm, Viig. Dentsclii., tom. i. p. 1-16, tab. si. %. i.
T h e members of the family Mere,ml* or Bee-catcrs, so widely d,sir,hated over the Old World, are
remarkable for the elegance of their forms and the gaiety of their cohumng. Those const,tntmg the
restricted genus Merops are seven in number; of these, two, .1/. apmtcr and M. Mg'jptw.
inhabit Europe and Egypt, an.1 extend their range westward to Affghamstan; M. phUppeneu frequents
the whole of India, Southern China, Formosa, Flores, and Timor; and M. rmdre ,s common tn Burma,
and Siam • M biro/or is peculiar to the Malayan provinces; M. ymntwehr ,s a native of the Indo-Chinese
countries Southern India, and Ceylon, and M. o rn ate of Australia and the Papuan Islands.
Manv o f these beautiful birds are migratory, or at least change their locale accord,ng to the
seasons- the species here represented posses the greater portion of its life ,„ the light ethereal air
of subtropical regions, and the, azure-blue skies of Greece, Italy, and Spain are far more con.
genial to its habits and economy than the cold blasts of more northern countries; its occurrence
in the British Islands, however, has been sufficiently frequent to entitle it to a place in our avi-
I'juuin. During the last century nearly fifty have been recorded as having been shot 1 nglan 1,
and one or two in Ireland. The following are the instances enumerated by the late Mr Yarrell .—I
at Kingagate, in the Isle of T h an e .; another a. Godalming, in Surrey , a third at Chnstc iircli, in Humpshire
• a fourth at Chidcock, in Dorsetshire; three in Devonshire ; fonr in the parish of Modern, .„C o rn wall
; a fiock of twelve near Helston, in the same county, of which eleven were killed; four or fire ,a
SnHblk and N o rfo lk a n d a few others, the localities o f which are not mentioned. Since the completion o f Mr.
Yarrell's work, others hare from time to time mode their appearance; these, like their predecessors, must have
been driven out of their regular route o f migration, and alighted in England, the first an they c!lmJ '
ofita most recent occurrences is recorded hi the * Zoologist’ fnr June 1866. r. eorge a ‘"S’ I" '
states that four specimens were shot near Bristol during the first week of the preceding month,
that when first observed •• they were hawking for bees round a number of 'nnt-trees m ..
the neighbourhood of a number of beehives; at one moment soaring in «
next darting with velocity after their prey, which was often apparently some of the larges j es ot
Bombus; when one of these was caught, it was carried for half a minute or more a, die poin to the ta b
and then, with a sadden and peculiar turn of the head and neck, swallowed entire. At
birds sat upon the dead branches of a large elm and of a cherry-tree, whence they n
after bees flying past or gathering round the frnit-flowers, sometimes return,ng to the
fiychtClier, bm more often circling round for a short time before se.tling. T V hues appeared to he always
swallowed while the birds were on the wing." . . . , Rev
So much information respecting the habits and economy of this hu d has In
Mr. Tristram, Mr. Stafford S. Allen, and others, in ' Ih c Ibis, I
observers to give a transcript of it in their own words.
"T h e Bee-eater," says Mr. Tristram, in his account of the Ornithology o a es m
taneoosly in large flocks, and remained more or less gregarious throughout the summer in every pa o
the country. It does not frequently perch, hut remains for hours on the wing, skimming,
and down a nullah or wady, or systematically ranging and quartering a barley-plain in
on the wing Seen athwart the si.nl,earns as they passed overhead, their colour has the appearance o.
burnished copper. They feed as well as breed in colonies, preferring low banks to the sleeper dec,. .
and seeming tn rely for protection against lizards and other enemies on the structure and inmmg
dwellings rather than on their position. I have taken the eggs,from a n e st... the side of a low sand moo
on the plain, out of which I startled the bird by riding over its hole.
••It does not, so far as I can ascertain, utilize the borings of the previous yeai
the number of parasitic insects it leaves behind, or from the fact that the lizards gen erally -q •
The vacant dwellings, 1 cannot say. I . has been slated that i, lines its lies, with the elytra and I g d
beetles This 1 conceive to be mistake. Wheu the eggs are first laid, tin
to be found; but as the female continues to sit, the diiris of her meals becomes Heaped