InTHODUC ELON

Genus ——?

59. —-— BICOLOR.
White-bellied Swallow.

. fel ea ane tile nas ‘et been proposed. i i ‘ :
Another American form, for which a generic title has not yet been prop It is said that a specimen

has been killed near Derby; vide Wolley, in the ‘Zoologist ’ for 1853, p. 8806, and Newton in ‘ Proceedings

of the Zoological Society’ for 1860, p. 181.

Family MEROPID.

The members of this family are among the most ornamental of the Insessorial birds, and are as elegant
in form as they are beautiful in colour. Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia are the countries in which one
or other of the not very numerous species are found. As the thinness of their plumage and the slightness of
their form would indicate, they appear to be sensitive to cold ; and most of them are resident in the tropical
or warmer portions of the countries mentioned, though one species, the A/erops apiaster, is very common in
Spain. Insects of the various orders constitute their chief food. The species have been divided into several

genera,
Genus Merops.
The species inhabiting Europe is the type of this form.
506. Merops AplaAsTER : : : : i : : : : ; Vol. SRE ike

BEE-EATER.

Althoue “ear - ee :
ugh there are many instances of the occurrence of this bird in Britain, it can only be regarded as an

accidental visitor ; Tre rere: ;
: tor; and so uncertain are its visits, that years may elapse without an example being seen. It

is common, and breeds j i aan eee .
, and breeds in Spain, where it deposits its eggs in holes of sandbanks.

Family ALCEDINIDA.

| The distribution of the Kingfishers may be said to be almost universal ; but of the 125 species described,
few = to be found in the New World, the family being very feebly represented in America. The various
a have been much subdivided and received many generic appellations, their structure being as diverse
as their modes of life and the kinds of food upon which they subsist. Water is by no means essential to the
existence of many of them, es : ,

declally saree . :
pecially those which dwell amidst the scorie of volcanoes and on hot and