Letters, Announcements, ^c. 203 



Aligiirh, N.W. P., 4th Nov. 1871. 

 Dear Sir, — I have recently obtained, in the Aligurh and 

 Mynpoorie districts of the North-western Provinces of India, 

 which are situated in the flat alluvial plains of the valley of the 

 Ganges, numerous specimens of a Bee-eater unlike any pre- 

 viously recorded from these localities. 



Merops philippensis and M. viridis are the only species as yet 

 noticed here ; further north in the Doon, and eastwards in the 

 Terai and along the whole of the southern skirts of the Hima- 

 layas to the valley of the Bi'ahmapootra, M. quinticolor occurs; 

 while in the far north-west M. apiaster, so common in Cash- 

 mere in the summer, is found, Mr. Hume informs me, as a 

 straggler in the Peshavvur valley, extending, though rarely, to 

 the Salt range as far as Find Dadun Khan, on the banks of the 

 Jhelum. 



The present species is probably M. agyptius, included in our 

 Indian avifauna on the strength of specimens sent from Scinde 

 by Sir A. Burnes about the year 1830, but which has not, so 

 far as I am aware, been since obtained within our limits. 



I say that the present species is probably M. (Bgrjptius; but 

 the fact is, that so much uncertainty seems to exist in regard to 

 this species, and all the plates and descriptions to which I have 

 access are so unsatisfactory, that I can arrive at no certainty in 

 regard to it. 



I find that no less than eight species have been described, all 

 more or less corresponding with this bird in general colouring, 

 only two of which are retained by Gray in his recently published 

 Hand-list, the remaining six being treated as synonyms and ar- 

 ranged as follows : — 



1. Merops tegt/ptius (Forskal), Fauna Arab. i. no. 2; Descr. 

 de I'Egypte, t. iv. 3; Levaillant, Guepiers, t. vi. 16. =M. sa- 

 vignii (Cuvier), M. persica (Pallas), M. ruficollis (Vieillot), M. 

 superciliosus (Lichtenst.). 



2. Merops savignii (Swainson),B. ofW. Afr. ^. win. = M. lon- 

 gicauda (Vieillot), M. chrysocercus (Cabanis). 



I have not the original descriptions of Pallas and Forskal to 

 refer to; but I have compared the plate of M. savignii in Swain- 

 son's * Birds of W. Africa,' and of M. agyptius in Bree, neither 



