The COMMON BEE-EATER (_Merops apiaster_) (Coloured Plate XXIV.), one of
the largest members of this family, is ten inches long and seventeen
broad; the wing measures five inches and one-third, and the tail from
four inches to four and a quarter. In this species the brow is white, and
top of the head green; the nape, sides of the neck, and centre of the
wings are chestnut-brown; the back is yellow, with a greenish gloss; the
cheek-stripes, which terminate at the back of the neck, and a line around
the pale yellow throat are black; the under side and rump are blue or
blueish green; the quills grass-green, blue on their outer web, and tipped
with black; the tail-feathers are blueish green, shaded with yellow, the
long centre pair are also tipped with black; the eye is bright red, the
beak black, and the foot of a reddish hue.
The _Merops apiaster_ is an occasional visitor to this country, and
somewhat resembles the Swallows in its habits. Like them, it captures
prey on the wing. It devours bees and wasps in large quantities, and that
without experiencing the least inconvenience from their sting, which
it probably gets rid of by frequently pressing the body between its
mandibles, until the sting is either extracted or rendered harmless. In
the island of Crete these birds are caught by boys, by means of a cicada
attached to a pin or fish-hook fastened to a long thread. In many parts
of Europe the flesh is esteemed as an article of food. The voice of this
species is rich and pleasing.
"I have had the gratification," says Mr. Thompson, "of seeing the
Bee-eater in scenes with which its brilliant plumage was more in harmony
than with any in the British Isles. It first excited my admiration when
visiting the celebrated grotto of Egeria, near Rome. On approaching
the classic spot, several of these birds, in rapid Swift-like flight,
swept closely past, uttering their peculiar call, and, with their
brilliant colours and graceful form, proved irresistibly attractive.
My companions, who, as well as myself, beheld them for the first time,
were so greatly struck with the beauty of their plumage, and their bold,
sweeping flight, as to term them the presiding deities of the Egerian
grotto. Rich as was the spot in historical and poetical associations, it
was not less so in pictorial charms. All was in admirable keeping; the
picturesque grotto, with its ivy-mantled entrance and gushing spring; the
gracefully-reclining, though headless, white marble statue of the nymph;
the sides of the grotto covered with the exquisitely-beautiful maiden-hair
fern in the richest luxuriance; the wilderness of wild flowers around the
exterior attracting the bees on which the Meropses were feeding; and over
all the deep blue sky of Rome completing the picture."
The sting-bearing hymenoptera undoubtedly constitute the favourite food
of these resplendent birds, and to obtain them, not only are the hives
of the honey-bee put under requisition, but the nests of wasps, hornets,
and humble-bees are ruthlessly robbed of their inhabitants; indeed, it
has been frequently observed that when the Bee-eaters have been fortunate
enough to find a wasp's nest, they establish their head-quarters in its
immediate neighbourhood, and, during a few hours' sojourn, generally
contrive to snap up its numerous occupants one after another until
none are left. Nor do these insects alone suffer from their voracity;
grasshoppers, crickets, dragon-flies, gadflies, beetles, flies, and
even gnats are by no means unacceptable prey, in spite of the dense,
indigestible armour in which some of them are encased.
The nest of the Bee-eater is constructed towards the end of May, the
locality selected being generally the sandy or clayey bank of some river,
in which it excavates a round hole, from two inches to two inches and a
half in diameter, apparently by means of its beak and claws, or perhaps
with its claws only; from this external opening the hole extends into the
bank in a slightly-inclined direction to a distance of from four to six
feet, and terminates in a capacious chamber eight or ten inches long, by
four to six inches broad, and three or four inches in height. It is upon
the floor of this chamber that about the month of June the female lays her
eggs, which are four or six in number. It is asserted by some writers that
in this chamber a nest is constructed with stems of heather and lined with
moss; upon this subject we can only say that in none of the holes examined
by us was there the slightest trace of any nest-building materials, but
in lieu thereof we always found large quantities of the elytra of beetles
and of the wings of bees and other insects heaped together as if to form
a kind of cushion, so that the young were not quite upon the bare ground.
Whether the male assists the female in the process of incubation is as yet
undetermined; but we can vouch for it that both parents most assiduously
wait upon and provide food for their callow progeny.
[Illustration: THE BEE-WOLF (_Melittotheres nubicus_).]