There are two different kinds of this bird in Syria considerably varying in colours, the brown of the back being considerably darker in that of the Syriac, and the blue much deeper, chiefly on its wings; the back of the head, likewise brown, with very little pale-blue throughout any part of it, and wanting the two long feathers in the tail. It is a fly-catcher, or bee-eater, of which these long feathers are the mark. It is said by Dr Shaw, and writers that have described it, to be of the size of a jay, to which indeed the Syrian bird approaches, but this before us seems the least of his kind, and weighs half an ounce more than a blackbird. It is consequently true, as Dr Shaw, says, that it has a smaller bill than a jay, because the bird itself is smaller, neither is there any disproportion in the length of its legs. Shaw says, it is called Shagarag, which, he imagines, by a transmutation of letters, to be the same with Sharakrak of the Talmudists, or Shakarak of the Arabian authors, and is derived from sharak, to shriek or squall. But all this learning is very much misplaced; for from the brightness of the colour, it is derived from a word which signifies _to shine_. Its belly and inside of its wings are of a most beautiful pale blue. The shoulder, or top of its wings, a dark blue. The middle of the wing is traversed by a band of light blue; the extremity of the wing, and the largest feathers, are of a dark-blue. The two feathers of its tail, where broad, are of a light blue, but the long sharp single ones are of a dark blue, like the tips of the wings. Its bill is strong and well made, and has a pencil of hairs as whiskers. Round where the beak joins the head, the feathers are white; the eye black, and well proportioned, surrounded by a light flame-coloured iris. The back is of a very light brown inclining to cream colour, and of a cast of red. The feet are flesh-coloured and scaly, has three toes before and one behind, each with a sharp claw. Notwithstanding what has been said as to the derivation of its name, I never heard it scream or make any sort of noise. It has nothing of the actions of either the magpie or the jay. Buxtorf interprets the sheregrig by merops the bee-eater, and in so doing he is right, when he applies it to this bird, but then he errs in mistaking another bird for it, called Sirens, a fly-catcher, very common in the Levant, which appear in great numbers, making a shrill, squaling noise in the heat of the day; and of these I have seen, and designed many different sorts, some very beautiful, but they fly in flocks, which the sheregrig does not; he attaches himself equally to swarms of bees and flies, which he finds in the woods upon the trees, or in holes in the ground among the high grass. Of these there are great swarms of different kinds in the low part of Abyssinia.