The BRIDLED BEE-EATER (_Coccolarynx frenatus_), a species inhabiting
the forests near the Blue River, possesses a delicate, thin beak, a
moderate-sized, straight tail, and most glowing and variegated plumage.
The upper portions of the body are green, the under side is reddish brown;
the brow green and blue intermixed; the throat scarlet; the belly, rump,
and under tail-covers are bright blue; the black cheek-stripe, which
passes across the eye, is bordered with blue; the eye is bright red, and
the beak and foot black. The length of the body is eight inches; the wing
measures three inches and one-third, and the tail three inches and a half.
This elegant little bird is very numerous in Central Africa, where it is
usually met with in large parties, which rarely fly to any distance above
the tree-tops in pursuit of their insect fare, and seize their prey more
after the manner of the Flycatchers than of the Swallows. According to
our own observations, these birds appear to remain for months together in
the vicinity of their settlements of nests. During the Christmas of 1850,
whilst anchored in the Blue River, we found at least sixty of the holes
employed as nests by this species excavated in a clay bank on the shore;
the whole number occupying a space not exceeding thirty-six square feet,
and so close together that the entrances were not more than five or six
inches apart. The passages to the nest-holes were about an inch and a half
in diameter, and from three to four feet deep, terminating in a chamber
from six to eight inches long, by four or six broad, and two and a half to
three inches high. We found neither building materials nor eggs in these
holes, although the birds were constantly creeping in and out of them.