216 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
tail coverts. Throat and fore-neck rusty greenish-black, 
a patch of varying size on the centre of the throat and neck 
washed with royal blue, which is brightest on the shafts of the 
feathers. Remainder of lower parts greenish-blue, darker on 
the breast. 
Bill deep orange-red, the extreme tip blackish-red, in 
young birds wholly black ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet 
orange-red. 
Length 11°5; wing 7°25; tail 4; tarsus -75; bill from 
gape 1:5. 
Distribution.—One of our rarest residents ; has been found 
in thick forest in various scattered localities in the Island. 
The southern form of this species—HL. letior of the British 
Museum Catalogue—occurs in Ceylon and ‘Travancore. 
It is darker than the northern forms, which range along the 
base of the Eastern Himalayas through Burma to China and 
Malaya. Blanford unites all these forms into one species. 
Habits, &c.—Kssentially a forest bird, frequenting tall dead 
trees in deep jungle. The food appears to consist mainly of 
wood-boring beetles. In Travancore this species has been 
found breeding from September to April in a hole in a large 
tree at a great height from the ground. The three white eggs 
measure about 1°38 by 1°15, but vary considerably in shape 
and size. 
Sub-order MEROPES. 
Family Mrroprp 2. 
Bee-eaters. 
The Bee-eaters are a single family found throughout the 
greater part of the Old World. They are slim-built smallish 
birds, the plumage—with certain African exceptions—being 
mainly or largely of some shade of green. The bill is long, 
slender, pointed, and gently curved ; the wings are long and 
pointed; the legs and feet are weak. The three front toes 
are syndactylic, 7.e., united at their bases between the mner 
and middle toes along the basal joint, between the middle and 
outer toes up to the last joint. In all Ceylon species the 
nostrils are partially covered with plumes, and there are a 
few small rictal bristles at the base of the bill. 
