it lias been met with as far north in Europe as Lapland, and has been on many oeeasions recorded
from various parts of the British Isles. According to Professor Newton it has been obtained at
least thirty times in Great Britain and four times in Ireland. The first recorded example was
exhibited to the Linnean Society by Sir J . E. Smith, and was shot at Mattishall, in Norfolk, in
June 1793, and was (fide Latham, Syn. Suppl. ii. p . 149) shot out of a flight of about twenty,
some survivors of which were observed at the same spot in the following October (Trans. Linn.
Soc. iii. p . 333). The specimen was figured by Lenin (Br. B. pi. 43), whose plate is dated Nov. 7,
1793, and having been given by Smith to Lord Derby, is now with the rest of his coUcction at
Liverpool, as its curator, Mr. T. J . Moore, believes. Professor Newton (in Yarr. Br. B. ed. 4, p . 436)
recapitulates the records of its occurrences in Great Britain as follows :—" Taking the maritime
counties and beginning in the west, Drew states (Ilist. Cornwall, i. p. 580) that four were seen
and two shot, at Madera near the Land's End, in 1807; while, according to Couch and BeUamy
(Nat. Hist. South Devon, p. 202), a flock of twelve, of which eleven were shot, was observed near
Hclston in the same county in May 1S28. In Devon, Dr. Moore in 1837 wrote (Mag. Nat. Llist.
ser. 2, i. p. 180) that one was shot at Leigbam in April 1818, another at Ivy bridge in 1822, and
that a third was in Mr. Howe's collection, while Mr. Nicholl records (Zool. p. 6143) a male killed
at Kingsbridge in May 1S58. One was shot at Chideock, in Dorset, and preserved in the Bridport
Museum, as stated in the first edition of this work. In the Isle of Wight ono is said (Zool.
p. 4870; Nat. 1855, p. 264) to have been obtained near Freshwater in June 1855. In Sussex,
Mr. Knox mentions one shot at Chichester, May 6th, 1829, and Mr. Ellman in 1850 recorded
(Zool. p. 2953) one killed at Ieklesham, now in Mr. Borrer's collection. As regards Kent, the
bird here figured was shot at Kingsgate in May 1827, and another, killed at Lydd, was in 1844 in
Dr. Plowley's collection (Zool. p. 623). In Essex, one was killed about midsummer 1854, at
Eeeting (Zool. p. 4478). Two examples, according to Sheppard and Whitcar, were obtained in
Suffolk, one at Becclcs in the spring of 1825, and the other at Blyburgh in the month of May ;
while one is supposed to have been seen at Glenehain in June 1868 (Zool. p. 1690). In Norfolk,
besides the flight in the last century already noticed, Sheppard and Whitcar mention one obtained
near Yarmouth ; Lubbock, in 1815, recorded one from the same neighbourhood more lately, and
Mr. Stevenson, in 1866, one kiUed at Gisleham many years before, in addition to a pair (which
there is some reason to suppose had a nest) shot on the river between Norwich and Yarmouth,
June 3rd, 1854 (Zool. p. 4367). In Lincolnshire, Mr. Cordeaux notices a specimen without locality
or date some years before 1872, and (Zool. 1880, p. 511) a second, shot at Tetney Haven, August
16th, 1880. Further northwards in England there is no satisfactory evidence of this bird's
appearance; but Mr. G. B. Gray says he has seen an example obtained in Forfarshire, and one
killed in June 1852, at Kinmundy near Peterhead, is recorded (Nat. 1852, p. 204), while
Mr. Edward mentions (Zool. p. 6072) a supposed specimen killed about the same time between
Hindley and Dufftown. Mr. R. Gray also states (B. of W. of Scotl. p . 513) that a bird believed
to he of this species was seen at the close of August 1869 on the river Black Cart in Renfrewshire
; and Thompson recorded (Mag. Nat. Hist. scr. 2, ii. p. 18) an example killed October 6th,
1832, near the Mull of Galloway. Mr. Dix, in 1869, mentioned (Zool. s. s. p. 1075) one obtained
in Pembrokeshire. Four are said (Zool. s. s. pp. 271 and 561} to have appeared at Stapleton, near
Bristol, in April or May 1866, on the 1st or 2nd of which latter month three of them were shot;
and forming part, probably, of the same visitation, was a male killed at Bishopstowe in Wilts,
May 4th, 1866, as also, according to Mr. Sharpc's information to Capt. Kennedy (B. Berks, &c.
pp. 180, 181), one seen for some days in the same year at Dropmore. One shot at Godalmmg,
some years before 1837, rests on the authority of Kidd (Entomol. Mag. iv. p. 270), and Hewitson
states (Zool. s. s. p. 2027) that there was an example at Oatlands feeding on ycwberrics in the late
autumn of 1869. In May 1879 a pair was shot near Derby (Zool. 1879, p. 461), one of which is
in Mr. Whitaker's coUection. As regards Ireland, Vigors many years ago reported (Zool. Joura.
i. p. 589) one obtained in the winter of 1820, on the sea-coast near Wexford, in which county
Mr. Watters says that another was procured in the summer of 1848 ; while Dr. J. D. Marshall, in
1829, recorded (Mag. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 395) one killed in Wicklow a few years before, and aecordiu"
to Thompson, Dr. Graves, writing in 1830, mentioned one more obtained in that island, but
without giving date or locality."
I n Norway, Mr. Collett informs me, the Bee-eater has not been known to have occurred ; but
it has on several occasions been recorded from Sweden. Professor Sundevall writes that one was
shot in June 1816 at Nedraby, a Swedish mile north of Ystad, and was in company with another,
which was not secured. One was obtained in Hôgsàter parish, Dalsland, and presented to the
Stockholm Museum by the Rev. O. Fryxell. A small flock of six individuals appeared on the
19th May, 1858, at Tiifvelsâs, near Wexiô, and remained for three days in a garden. Two of
these were shot by the Rev. N. Wieslandcr, who presented one to the Stockholm, and the other
to the Lund Museum. This Bee-eater has even been found within the Arctic circle, as a female
was, according to Mr. Moves (Ôfv. K. Vet.-Ak. Fôrh. 1868, p. 204), obtained about a mile south
of Muouioniska in Lapland, on the 3rd June, 1865. It has not been observed in Finland, and is
o f rare occurrence in Northern Russia. Mr. Sabaniieff says that it breeds, though rarely, in the
Voronege Government, and it is stated to occur near Moscow. Bogdanoff met with it as far as
Samara ; Pallas says that it ranges up to the mouth of the Kama river; and according to Eversmann
(J. f. O. 1853, p. 291) it ranges northward to Orenberg and the Lower Samara, where the
Ik flows into that river. In Southern Russia it is very common and breeds numerously in many
localities. According to Mr. Taczanowski it is of accidental and rare occurrence in Poland, and
he only knows of one instance of its capture in the Lublin Government, but it has been not
unfrequently observed in the Ukraine and Podolia. Borggreve records it from various parts of
North Germany, bcin^' most common in Silesia, where, according to G loger, a pair is said to have
bred near Ohlau, in 1792. It has been met with in Westphalia and Posen ; and Tobias says that
it occurs at Hirscbberg almost every summer. In Denmark and the Danish Provinces it is a
very rare straggler. Mr. Collin states (Skand. Fugl. p. 131) that it has once been met with in
Holstein ; two were shot on the 5th June 1840, at Gjorslev, in Sceland ; and a lady caught two at
Klitterne, near SvineklQer. Hornemann states that it has occurred in Fyen ; and Mr. Steenberg
received one in spirits that had been shot on Anbolt in May 1853. It has been obtained on the
island of Heligoland ; but docs not appear to have occurred in Holland or Belgium. It visits
Northern France, however ; and Messrs. Degland and Gerbe state that a flock of fifteen or twenty
individuals established themselves, early in July 1840, at Port Remy, near Abbeville, in a crag
already perforated by Sand-Martins, where M. Bâillon obtained a sitting female and her eggs.
With this exception its occurrences are principally confined to the southern districts, some pairs
nesting in Provence every year, although the majority are birds of passage. M. Adrien Lacroix
says that it occurs accidentally on passage, from time to time, in the Haute-Garonne. Two were
obtained in May 1868 near Portet, about ten kilometres south of Toulouse; and the following
year a fine male was shot in April at Saint-Simon, eight kilometres from Toulouse, and was in
company with five or six others. Two have, he says, to his knowledge, been obtained in the
Hautes-Pyrénées; he received one from Castres in May 1869; and it occurs every year, on
passage, more or less numerously, in the Pyrénées orientales.