P laces and
M anners.
green, with a yellowifh tinge: tiie throat is yellow : the under
parts of the body blue green, growing paler towards the belly t
the Idler wing coverts are dull green; the middle ones rufous j.
and the greater ones of a rufous green : the quills for the moft
part fea-green without, and many of the inner ones rufous 5 the
firft very Ihort; the fecond the longeft of a ll: the tail is wedge-
fhaped, and confifts of twelve feathers, the fhafts of which are-
brown above, and whitifh beneath; the two middle feathers are
fea-green, with a fhade of rufous-r the reft the fame, but margined
with cinereous within ; the two middle feathers exceed the outer
ones by three quarters of an inch : the legs are of a reddilb
brown : claws reddifh black.
This bird inhabits various parts of Europe, on the, continent,,
though not in England; yet is faid to have been feen in Sweden
and flocks of them have been met with at Anfpach * , in Germany, in
the month of June. They are now and then feen in Eorraine -f-,
though only in pairs j and are not unftequent in other parts, fince
Kramer talks of their building the neft in the fandy crags of the
Danube J. They are met with in Italy, and the fouth of France
and in Candia |[, and other Aland's of the Mediterranean, likewife,
they are in plenty, as well as in Palefline and Arabia; being very
common in the woods about Temen,. where they are called
Schiegtagha §, We likewife receive this fpecies from Bengal** $
and, no doubt, could it be traced, may HE found in more places-
* Hiß. dcioij,; vi. 485. f Id. $ Elen. p. 337. | Willugh.
orn. p. 148. § Fun71.. Ylrab. p, 1..
** I have one from this place, exactly like the European fpecies, which,
lall I received from Minorca. This laft has an even tail,, without, the elongated,
middle feathers; but in. that from Bengal they were longer than the tell, according
to the above delcription.
XO than
B E E - E A T ”E R. 665
than thofe already mentioned. It takes the name o f Bee-eater
from its being very fond of thofe infedts; but, befides thefe, will
catch gnats, flies, cicada *, and other infefts, on the wing, like the
Swallow. It is faid to be mofl plenty in the Ifle of Candia; and
in defedt of infedls, to eat feeds of many kinds j and Ray fup-
pofes, from its fimilarity to the Kingsfijher, it may poflibly feed
on fifh. Mold probably fome think it good to eat, as Willughby
faw many of them expofed for fale in the markets of Rome.
Thefe birds make their nefts in deep holes in the banks of rivers,
like the Sand Martin and Kingsfijher, at the end of which the fe male
lays from five to feven white eggs, rather lefs than thofe of a
Blackbird. The nefi: itfelf is compofed of mofs J.
* Willughby tells us, from Bel on y <c that its lingular elegancy invites the?
Candy boys to hunt for it with cicadee, as they do for thofe greater Swallows,
called Swifts, after this manner:— bending a pin like a hook, and tying it by the
head to the end of a thread, they thruft it through a cicada, (as boys bait a hook
with a fly) holding the other end of the thread in their hands ; the cicada, la
fattened, flies neverthelefs in the air, which the Merops Ipying, flies after it with
all her force ; and catching it, fwallows pin and all, wherewith lhe is caught.**
Will. or», p. 14S.
t Syn. a*v. p. 49.
% Kramer el. p. 3.3 7. who fays, that it feeds chiefly on files and gnats*
Merops