Rainbow bee-eater Rainbow bee-eater The rainbow bee-eater ("Merops ornatus") is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It is the only species of Meropidae found in Australia. Rainbow bee-eaters are brilliantly coloured birds that grow to be 19–24 cm (max 28 cm) in length, including the elongated tail feathers. The upper back and wings are green in colour, and the lower back and under-tail coverts are bright blue. The undersides of the wings and primary flight feathers are red and tipped with black, and the tail is black to deep violet. The rainbow bee-eater's two central tail feathers are longer
Rainbow on the Road are memorable, as in the book's late-autumn ending: "Crows were out gleaning, looking like blown bits of charred paper. And talking all the time — like crows talk. Far above, the lonely hawk floating. Harvest is over. It is the lone-somest time of the year." The novel (published by Houghton Mifflin, and now out of print) forms the basis of the 1969 Broadway musical, "Come Summer". Rainbow on the Road Rainbow on the Road is a 1954 novel by Esther Forbes, in which a peddler-artist named Jude spends his winters painting the figures of men and women on canvases, while