throughout North-east Africa on passage from the end of March to the beginning of May, and
again from August to October, usually in (locks, but not so numerous as Mevops pérsicas ; and
he believes that it breeds in Central Egypt and Arabia Petrsea. Captain Shelley says that it
arrives in Egypt about the 10th of April, and is then plentifully distributed, but is not quite so
abundant as Merops pensions. The greater number do not remain to breed, but pass northwards
in May, returning in August. In North-west Africa it is also common, and is recorded from
Algeria and Morocco as abundant, arriving in the latter country, according to Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake,
early in April. On the west coast it has been observed in most localities visited by collectors down
to the Cape of <Jood 1 [ope, where it is said to breed, and it also occurs on the Canaries and Madeira.
Vernon Ilarcourt records it from the latter island; and, according to Dr. Bolle (J. f. 0.1857, p. 324),
it frequently visits Puertcvcntura in large flocks in winter, and is not unfrequcntly seen on
Canaria. A considerable number are said to have bred on Arguineguin several years in succession.
I have examined specimens from many localities on the west coast of Africa; and
Mr. Andersson writes (B. of Damara Land, p. 00) that it is " common in Ondonga during the rainy
season, when it is also not uncommon in Damara Land proper; but I do not think that it is
abundant in Great Namaqua Land.
" These Bee-eaters are observed during their annual migrations in small flocks; but having
arrived at their temporary destination they scatter somewhat over the country, though several
may still be seen in close proximity. They seem to live chiefly on a species of red wasp, and
sometimes seize their food on the wing like Swallows, though they more frequently watch for
it from some elevated perch, whence they suddenly pounce upon any prey which may chance
to come within their ken, returning invariably to the same spot whether successful or not. When
their capture proves a bee or other stinging insect, it is always seized across the body, when the
bird, after giving it a sharp squeeze or two between the mandibles of the bill, quickly swallows it.
I have seen lizards pursue exactly the same plan when catching bymcnopterous insects.
" When on the wing, this Bee-eater utters a pleasant but rather subdued warbling
chirp."
Respecting its occurrence in South Africa, Mr. Layard writes (of. Sbarpe's ed. of Layard's B.
of S. Africa, p. 96):—" The European Bee-eater, during its period of visitation, extends all over Cape
Colony, and we have generally noticed its arrival about August in company with the Quail. All the
instances which have been recorded with the actual dates of capture, show that it is only during
the months when it is absent from Europe that it visits South Africa, and hence the fact of its
breeding during its stay is of great interest. Victorin procured it in the Karroo in January;
Dr. Exton shot a specimen at Kanye, and on the 24th of October, 1873, Mr. T. E. Buckley shot
two specimens near the river Meathley in Bamangwato. It does not seem to have occurred to
Mr. Ayres in Natal, but Mr. Andersson states that it is 'very common in Ondonga during the
rainy season, when it is also not uncommon in Damara Land proper ; ' he considers it to be less
abundant in Great Namaqua Land. Señor Anchieta has met with the species on the river
Cunene, and also at Caconda in Benguela; while the British Museum contains an example from
the Congo, without, however, any indication of the collector.
" I t hawks after flies, uttering its cheerful, chirruping cry, and alighting on the summit of
the highest bush in the neighbourhood. It breeds in the neighbourhood of Neis Poort, Mr.
Henry Jackson having found several nests in holes in hanks. The eggs are pure white; axis,
12"'; diam. 10"'. We also found it breeding in great abunclanco at the Berg river in September
and October. It docs not always select a bank into which to bore the hole destined for its nest,
for wc found one flat piece of sandy ground perforated with numberless holes, into which the
birds were diving and scrambling like so many rats."
In Asia the Common Bee-eater docs not range very far to the eastward. It is found in
Arabia; and Mr. AVyatt says (Ibis, 1870, p. 12) that he saw one at El Nowcyba, by the Gulf of
Akabah, on the 6th April, and on the 9th of that month he found it in abundance near there.
Messrs. Dickson and Boss record it (P. Z. S. 1839, p. 119) from Erzeroom, where it arrives about
the middle of May, leaving again late in September. Severtzoff states that it breeds commonly
in Turkestan; and Mr. Blanford writes (E. Pers. ii. p. 122) that it is " a summer migrant to Persia,
and during the warm months it abounds throughout tho islands. I met with it first in
Baluchistan on the 9th of April; but there, as in Suidh, it is, I suspect, only a bird of passage,
and its breeding-quarters are further north; but large numbers undoubtedly remain during the
summer and breed in the Persian highlands. The same remarks apply to Merops persicus and
CoracUisgarrulus, none of these species being found in India in the winter, although they traverse
Baluchistan, Sindh, and occasionally North-western India in the spring and autumn; so that it is
probable that all of them pass the colder months of the year in Arabia or Africa, and their line
of migration crosses at right angles that of such species as Easpiza mehtnocephala and Cotumix
communis, which resort to India in the winter and breed in the Persian highlands."
Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay writes (Ibis, 1880, p. 49):—" I first observed the European Bee-eater
on the 5th June, after which it became quite common in the llariah valley. On the 22nd of the
same month I found it very common between Kurrum fort and the Peiwar Kotul, where neither
trees nor shrubs arc to lie seen for miles. The birds were sitting on the ground and darting up
at insects occasionally Up to the 10th July, when I left the Kurrum valley, these birds
were not breeding; nor, indeed, did I see any place at all suitable for the purpose.
" Surgeon-Major Aitchison, of the Indian Medical Department, the botanist to the Kurrum
Expedition, informed me that in a village near the base of the Safed-Koh the villagers said that
sometimes in the mouth of June, when the Bee-eaters arrive, they come down in great numbers
to rob the bees from the hives, and that the people had to keep continually on the watch to drive
them off. The natives also say that the Bcc-catcrs do not remain long; so that it is possible that
they may go elsewhere to breed."
According to Dr. Jerdon it was observed by Dr. Lcith Adams in great numbers in the valley
of Cashmere, extending into the plains of the Punjab, and is very abundant at Peshawar. He
further remarks (Ibis, 1872, p. 3) that he did not find it so generally spread in Cashmere as he
expected, but be saw one immense (lock on tho WuUur lake in the month of August, evidently
about to miTate. According to Pallas it is found in Asiatic Russia only as far castas the Irtish river.
The Bee-eater is certainly one of the most brilliantly coloured and conspicuous of our
European birds; and in the rich sunshine of the south there are few more beautiful sights than
a flock of these birds hawking after insects. 1 first saw it alive in Southern Spain, but was too
early to find it breeding, and have never been able to take its eggs. Those I saw had just
arrived, and were hawking about in pursuit of insects, sometimes resting on the telegraph-wires
which passed close to where they were. In their mode of flight they reminded me a good deal
of tho Swallow, and were catching insects on the wing like that bird. They feed on insects of
various kinds, such as bees, wasps, grasshoppers, locusts, and beetles of various kinds, which arc
chiefly captured on the wing, but are also picked off trees, bushes, or plants. To the beekeeper
it is an intolerable nuisance; for one or two of these birds will sometimes watch the entrance to
a hive, and almost decimate the bees as they pass and repass.