One species of Bee-eater is found in Australia; but with this exception all the members of this group inhabit the Eastern Hemisphere. As regards their general habits, the Bee-eaters nearly resemble the Swallows, and, like them, are to be seen darting through the air when the sun is shining, in active pursuit of the insect hosts. Insects afford these pretty birds their principal means of subsistence, and, as their name implies, they eagerly devour large quantities of bees and wasps. The nests of the Bee-eaters are usually placed near together in holes in the ground or sand, and contain from four to seven pure white eggs.
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."