206 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



above the city in the vicinity of high earthen banks, where, I suspect, 

 it might be discovered breeding in April and May. From July to 

 September it is common on the great marshes between Chiang Mai 

 and Lamphun. Its notes and manner of feeding are much like those 

 of the following species. 



A nonbreeding adult male, taken June 27, had the irides crimson; 

 the bill black ; the feet and toes purplish brown ; the claws black. 



This is a comparatively large bee-eater, with much elongated and 

 narrowed central rectrices. It has the upper parts green, in certain 

 lights glossed with copper, changing to bright blue on the secondaries, 

 scapulars, rump, upper tail coverts, and tail ; a black bar through the 

 eye, bordered below by a streak of light blue; the chin and upper 

 throat yellow ; the lower throat and uppermost breast rufous-chestnut, 

 gradually changing to copper-glossed green on the lower breast and 

 abdomen, which color in turn passes into light blue on the under 

 tail coverts ; the under wing coverts buff. 



MEROPS ORIENTALIS BIRMANUS Neumann 



Burmese Green Bee-eater 



Merops viridis birmanus Neumann, Orn. Monatsb., vol. 18, 1910, p. 80 (Myingyan, 

 Upper Burma). 



Merops orientalis birmanus, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl. 

 1913, p. 52 (Den Chai) ; 1916, p. 110 (Khun Tan) ; Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 

 1915, p. 231 (listed). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 

 1929, p. 571 (Chiang Mai) ; 1934, p. 260 (Chiang Mai, Doi Chiang Dao).— 

 Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 161 (Chiang Mai) ; 

 1936, p. 93 (Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep).— Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, 

 p. 180 (Chom Thong, Ban Mae Klang, Chiang Dao). — Gkeenway, Bull. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool., 1940, p. 192 (Chiang Mai, Chiang Dao). 



Merops lamarJc birmanus, Gyldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 587 (Den Chai, Khun Tan). 



This small bee-eater is one of the commonest birds of the lowlands 

 in all parts of our provinces; as a straggler it occurs rarely in open 

 country at higher altitudes: De Schauensee took specimens at 4,000 

 feet on Doi Chiang Dao (January), and I recorded it once at the 

 summit of Doi Suthep (February), although, on the latter mountain 

 at least, it was found normally only to 1,800 feet along the telephone 

 wires. 



Every resident of Thailand must be familiar with this beautiful 

 little bird, which may be seen almost anywhere in open, cultivated 

 country, perching on wires and fences along the highways, on the 

 bunds of the ricefields, and even upon the net posts of the tennis court 

 in one's garden. It is a sociable species, and great numbers some- 

 times congregate at a suitable feeding ground, such as a pond or 



