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.