ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE BEE-EATERS
True Bee-eaters
The true Bee-eaters (Merops) differ from the last in having a relatively longer, pointed wing in which the second quill is longest, and in having the two central tail-feathers elongated and pointed; they are also somewhat larger in size. Of the twenty-one species now recognized a majority are found in the Ethiopian region, while the others are widely scattered over the southern Palsarctic region and the Indo-Malayan and Australian regions.
The European or Common Bee-eater (M. apiaster) is one of the best known, being about ten and a half inches long, and very handsome in rich chestnut, blue, green, yellow, and black, and, as Mr. Dresser well says,”is certainly one of the most brilliantly colored and conspicuous of 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.”
They are gregarious at all seasons and are quite Swallow-like in appearance when on the wing, as they hawk after insects. Their burrows are usually excavated in a bank, but occasionally in flat ground away from water.
Among the most brilliant members of the genus are the Green-throated and Carmine-throated Bee-eaters (M. nubicus and M. nubi-coides), the first of northern tropical, and the latter of South Africa. In the Green-throated the head and throat are bluish green, the back and under parts generally a rich, deep rosy red or pale carmine with a tinge of vermilion, while the wings are dull red washed with green, the rump and upper and under tail-coverts rich blue, and the long tail dull red.
The Carmine-throated is slightly larger than the other and is similar in coloration except that the entire chin and throat are a rich, bright red. Their habits are in accord with those of their relatives.
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