This bird is one of those called Rollier in French, and Rollier in English, without either nation being able to say what is its signification in either language. In the French it is the name of a tribe, always as ill delineated as it is described, because scarce ever seen by those that either describe, or delineate it; in Latin it is called Merops. Its true name, in its native country, is Sheregrig, and by this name it is known in Syria, and Arabia, and in the low country of Abyssinia, on the borders of Sennaar, wherever there are meadows, or long grass, interspersed with lofty or shady trees.

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.

The Count de Buffon has published two figures of this bird, one from a specimen I gave him from Abyssinia82, the other from one stuffed, which he received from Senegal83, so that we know the bird possesses the whole breadth of Africa nearly on a parallel. I may be allowed to say, that, when I gave him mine, I did not expect he would so far have anticipated my publication as to have exhibited it as a part of the king’s cabinet till he had heard my idea of it, and what further I could relate of its history more than he had learned from seeing the feathers of it only. When I saw the draught, it put me in mind of the witty poem of Martial: A man had stole some of his verses, but read them so ill, that the poet could not understand them well enough to know they were his own—

The bird is so ill-designed that it may pass for a different species. It is too short in the body; too thick; its neck too short and thick; its legs, the pupil and iris of the eye, of a Wrong colour; its tail affectedly spread. These are the consequences of drawing from stuffed subjects. The brown upon the back is too dark, the light-blue too pale, too much white upon the side of its head. These are the consequences of having a bad painter; and the reader, by comparing my figure with those drawn by Martinet in Buffon, may easily perceive how very little chance he has to form a true idea of any of these birds, if the difference is as great between his other drawings and the original, as between my drawing and his. De Seve would have given it a juster picture.