On this page

Books about Bee-eaters

Bee-eaters

UK visitors

European Bee-eater
Merops apiaster

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
Merops persicus

Bee-eaters worldwide

There are 27 species of bee-eaters worldwide, the majority of these are found in Asia and Africa.

Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 6: Mousebirds to Hornbills

Edited by Josep Del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott and Jordi Sargatal

Lynx Edicions

2001

589 pages, 46 colour plates, 330 colour photos, 258 distribution maps.

This volume covers mousebirds, trogons, kingfishers, todies, motmots, bee-eaters, rollers, ground-rollers, cuckoo-rollers, hoopoes, wood-hoopoes and hornbills.

Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers

C. Hilary Fry and Kathie Fry

Helm

1999

"Dazzling in their beauty, many of the 123 species of kingfisher, bee-eater and roller are very poorly known. This reference provides a review of the group showing every species, all the main races and most sex and age variations. Text and plates are closely co-ordinated with emphasis on behaviour, field characters and identifcation. Colour maps showing breeding and wintering ranges are also included."

Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers

C. Hilary Fry and Kathie Fry

Princeton University Press

1999

"Few birds can match the dazzling beauty of kingfishers, bee-eaters, and rollers. Until now no comprehensive treatment of these families has appeared in a single volume. This authoritative guide provides an up-to-the-minute review of all that is known about the world's 123 species. The forty magnificient plates by Alan Harris show every species, all main subspecies, and most sex and age variations - 350 portraits in all. For easy reference, color maps showing breeding and wintering ranges appear opposite the plates. Text and plates are carefully coordinated, with emphasis on behavior, field characters, and identification; and the species accounts, which form the bulk of the book, are liberally illustrated with line drawings."

Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers

C. Hilary Fry and Kathie Fry

Helm

1992

"A guide to the 123 species of Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Individual species accounts describe identification, field characters, behaviour, ecology and natural history. Three colour distribution maps show breeding and wintering ranges. The illustrations show every species, main subspecies and most sex and age variations."

The Bee-Eaters

C.H. Fry

Poyser

1984

A study of the 24 species of Bee-eaters. Published in 1984 and reprinted in 1991. Includes species accounts and colour plates of all species and subspecies. General chapters include sections on evolutionary development, relationships with apiculture, and social and reproductive life.

Kingfishers and Related Birds

Joseph Forshaw and William T. Cooper

1983 to 1994

The most complete and important monograph on this group of birds ever published, with text by Joseph Forshaw, an acknowledged authority, and colour plates by William Cooper. The edition was limited to 1,000 signed and numbered copies. The work was published in three parts. Each part comprised two volumes.

Part I: Alcedinidae
- Volume 1: Ceryle to Cittura
- Volume 2: Halcyon to Tanysiptera

Part II: Todidae to Phoeniculidae
- Volume 3: Todidae, Momotidae and Meropidae
- Volume 4: Leptosomatidae, Coraciidae, Upupidae and Phoeniculidae

Part III: Bucerotidae
- Volume 5: Bucorvus to Anthracoceros
- Volume 6: Buceros to Ceratogymna

Catalogue Of The Picariae In The Collection Of The British Museum

Catalogue Of The Birds In The British Museum, Volume XVII

R. Bowdler Sharpe

Printed By Order Of The Trustees

Sold by: Longman & Co.; B. Quaritch; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.; and at the British Museum (Natural History)

1892

From the preface:

"The present Volume contains an account of the remaining families of the suborder Coraciae as understood by Seebohm, as well as of the Halcyones, Bucerotes, and Trogones. The numbers of the species of the nine families treated of, and of the specimens at present in the Collection, are as follows: Leptosomatidae, 2; Coraciidae, 25; Meropidae, 36; Alcedinidae, 183; Momotidae, 21; Todidae, 5; Coliidae, 10; Bucerotidae, 68; Trogonidae, 47. Of these 397 species, only 16 are wanting to the collection of the Museum, and more than one-fourth of them are represented by the types; but besides these there are 30 other typical specimens now considered identical with previously named species. In many cases the series of specimens is sufficiently complete to illustrate the whole geographical range of a species - a result chiefly due to the accession of the great faunistic collections referred to in the previous volumes, and also to numerous recent donations, of which those made by the Lords of the Admiralty, Dr. Jayakar, W. D. Gumming, Esq., and Captain Mochler Ferryman should be specially mentioned. The Tweeddale Collection contained nearly the whole of the materials described in Dr. 8harpe's Monograph of the Alcedinidae."

A Monograph of the Meropidae or Family of the Bee-Eaters

Henry Eeles Dresser

Published by the author

Printed by Francis & Taylor

1884-1886