Volume 19, Plate X / Ornithology (Birds)

Fork-Tailed, Blue Vented Red Bee-Eater

Merops hirundinaceus

One of the most beautiful bee-eaters of western Africa, with the tail more deeply forked than any other species, found abundantly on the Orange river but rare in Senegal. It is brilliant green above and below, changing on the belly to sky-blue over the vent and tail-covers, with a bright orange-yellow chin, a sky-blue collar, black ears and eye-stripe, and cinnamon quills broadly tipped black, measuring about eight and a half inches.