NOTES. 49 
which the bee-eaters are somewhat distantly related. I remember 
being much surprised, many years ago, to find a kingtisher’s stomach 
full of insect remains. | 
The different kinds of food consumed by omnivorous birds, such 
as the crow, do not, of course, afford such striking examples of 
discontinuous dietary as do those of more eclectic birds. 
In Spolia Zeylanica for March, 1909, Mr. John Still states that he 
saw a paradise. flycatcher plunge from its station on a tree and 
capture something in the water, just like a kingfisher. I have seen 
the same species catching butterflies on the wing. So that here we 
have an exact parallel to Colonel Reeves’s observation. 
Flycatchers are not related to kingfishers, but they are distantly 
related to the shrikes or butcher-birds. One might put it that 
bee-eaters are to kingfishers what flycatchers are to shrikes. All 
these birds have the habit of sitting on a perch, swooping down from 
it to their prey, and afterwards returning to it. The late Grant Allen 
stated positively that among the animals which he had seen in 
butcher-birds’ larders were mice, shrews, lizards, robins, tomtits, 
and sparrows; but he added that, in spite of its occasional carnivorous 
tastes, the shrike is at heart an insect-eater. In this variation of 
diet, on the part of the shrike, we may perceive another parallel to 
the cases mentioned above. 
A. WILLEY. 
Colombo, May 4, 1910. iy 
Colonel Gordon Reeves’s observation is a most interesting one. [ 
have never noticed these birds fishing, but as they are known to 
take insects from the surface of water there is no reason why they 
should not learn to pick up small fry in the same manner. 
The ‘‘ bee-eaters” (Meropide) are closely allied to the “ king- 
fishers.” The two families come next each other in Legge’s 
‘Classification of the Birds of Ceylon.” Speaking of the habits of the 
‘« blue-tailed bee-eater ’ (IZ. Philippinus), Legge remarks :—‘“ I 
have seen it dash on to the surface of ponds and rivers and seize: 
insects which were passing over the water. Mr. Holdsworth has 
observed it hunting close to the surface of the sea, at a distance of a 
quarter of a mile from the shore.” 
Again, under Merops viridis (the green bee-eater) is a note to the 
effect. that “ Blyth has seen them assembled round a small tank 
seizing objects from the surface of the water, after the manner of a 
kingfisher.” But in his description of the habits of the ‘‘ chestnut- 
headed bee-eater ”’ (M. Swinhoii), no such custom is noted, though 
he remarks upon its habit of frequenting ‘‘ the topmost or most — 
outstretching branches of high trees overhanging water.’ 
E. ERNEST GREEN. 
Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, May 5, 1910. 
H 9(6)10 
