xv in
CLASSIFICATION.
The Bee-e&ters differ b a t little inter se in internal structure and in pterylosis, except that, as
stated by Mr. W. A. Forbes (Monogr. of Jaoamars, p. xi, footnote), most of the Iferopidn ha-ve
only the left carotid, whereas Xi/cfiornis has two, and it is therefore necessary to define the genera
by external characters. This family has been greatly subdivided by various authors, and has been
split up into as many as twenty-four genera; but of these it appears to me advisable to recognize
only five, viz.:—
1. Xyctiomis, which has t h e tail square and the pectoral plumes much elongated.
2. Mcropoyon, which has the pectoral plumes as in Xycfiomis, but has the middle rectrices
elongated as in Jferops.
!i. Jferops, which has the pectoral plumes not elongated, but has the two middle rectrices much
elongated.
4. Dieroeercus, which has the pectoral plumes not elongated, but has the tail deeply forked.
5. Melittophugus, which also has the pectoral plumes not elongated, but has the tail nearly or
quite even.
Full particulars of the characters of each genus are given in the body of the present work, so
that I need not recapitulate them here; and as the osteology has already been amply illustrated,
and as there are no special peculiarities to figure in the soft parts, I have not deemed it necessary
to issue any plate to illustrate the osteology or the generic characters.
HABITS AND DISTRIBUTION.
All the particulars I have been able to glean respecting the habits of the birds belonging to
the present family will be found in the body of the present work. They are inhabitants of the
forests and plains, as a rule affecting localities close to rivers, and are arboreal in their habits.
Most of the species are gregarious even during the breeding-season and nest in colonies; but the
two species belonging to t h e genus Xyctiomis are said t o be much less gregarious in their habits
than their allies, and are usually seen singly or in pairs. The note of all the Bee-eaters is said to
be harsh and umnclodious, and, as a rule, they are silent birds.
All the Bec-eaters the nesting-habits of which are known make their nest-holes, which they
themselves excavate in the ground, usually in banks, and most frequently in those which skirt or
arc near rivers or streams. When I wrote the articles on Xycfiomis amictits and N. (tlhertoni in
t h e present work, as there stated, nothing certain was known respecting the nidiiication of these
two birds, and it was uncertain whether they nested in hollow trees or in holes in banks. Since
then, however, the question has been satisfactorily solved; for in a letter lately received from
Sir. Davison he says :—" I t will doubtless interest you to know that Morgan took two nests
of Nycliornis ulherloni last year, in October and November. The bird breeds, like other
Bee-eaters, in holes in banks. The boles arc made by the birds themselves and extend six or seven
feet into the bank. In one case t h e bird had nested in the bank of a road, in the other in
an old elephant-pit."
All the Bce-eatcrs without exception lay pure white, glossy, roundish eggs.
The range of this Family is coniiucd to the Old "World, none of its members occurring in
America, where it may perhaps be considered to be replaced by the Galbulida>. It is represented
in the PaUcarctic, Ethiopian. Indian, and Australian Regions, greatly predominating, however, in
the second. The Pahearctic Region is really inhabited by only four species, though a single
example of a fifth is recorded as having occurred (but so far from its usual range as to justify its
being regarded as only a n accidental and even a doubtful straggler). The Ethiopian Region,
including therein Southern Arabia, is inhabited by no fewer than twenty-one out of the thirty-one
species recognized in this volume; and of these eighteen, or considerably more than half of the
whole number, arc peculiar to that Region. In the Indian Region eleven species are met with,
of which four are peculiar to its continental portion, and those are common to the Pahearctic
and Ethiopian Regions, while two are peculiar to its islands. The Australian Region includes
only three species—one widely distributed, the other two restricted to the remarkable island of
Celebes, one of them forming the type of a distinct genus, Mcropoyon. Of the other genera,
Xyctiomis is confined to the Indian Region, Dieroeercus to the Ethiopian, and Melittophagus
inhabits both in common; while Merops has more or fewer representatives in all four Regions.
The precise distribution of the Bee-caters maybe more plainly exhibited by the subjoined
Table (p. xx).