1S75.] THE PHILIPPINE AECHIPELAGO. 317 



the account given by Brisson, the coppery hues being omitted. Le Vaillant's own plate is Tr.Z.S. ix. 

 equally inaccurate; but in the letterpress he describes the species sufficiently to leave little ^'' 

 doubt that the Philippine bird was before him ; and he states that he described from three 

 examples in Paris collections, brought from the Philippines by Sonnerat and Poivre. Still it is 

 curious that Le Vaillant likewise figures the bird with an even tail. 



Dr. Cabanis (I. c.) long since pointed out that examples of this Bee-eater from Ceylon, 

 Malacca, Java, and the Philippines did not specifically differ. One or two recent authors, by 

 adopting the two titles oi iJhiU^tpinus and dmidhii, according to the habitat of the individuals, 

 seem, however, to disagree with Dr. Cabanis's conclusions. Examples obtained in Luzon by 

 Dr. Meyer, when compared with a large series from Ceylon, India, Upper Burma, Malacca, 

 Sumatra, Java, and Celebes, do not exhibit the slightest specific differences, nor do their 

 dimensions vary appreciably ; nor is even the somewhat darker hue of green said to be possessed 

 by the Philippine bird (Cab. I. e.) apparent in Dr. Meyer's Luzon specimens. 



36. *Merops bicolor. (PI. XXVI. fig. 1, in. orig.) 



Apiaster ex Francice insula, Brisson, Orn. iv. p. 543, no. 6, pl. 44. f 2, " Francite ins." (1760). 



Le Guepier marron et bleu. Month. Hist. Nat. Ois. vi. p. 493, ex Briss. 



Guepier de I'isle de France, D'Aubent. PI. Enl. 252. 



Merops americanus, L. S. Miillerf, Suppl. p. 95, ex Buffon (D'Aubent.) (1776). 



Merops hicolor, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 15, no. 252 (1783), ex D'Aubent. nee Vieillot. 



Iferops ladius, Gm., S. N. i. p. 462, no. 10 (1788), ex Briss. 



Chesnut bee-eater. Lath. Synop. i. p. 677, no. 9, ex Briss. 



Merops casfaneus. Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 273, no. 10, ex Lath. (1790). 



Le Guepier Latreille, Le Vaillant, Hist. Nat. Guep. p. 45, pl. 12, "Africa, Ceylon, Isl. of 

 France ! " 



lAjnaMer pJiilijipensis minor, Briss. fom. eif. p. 555, no. 10, pl. xliii. f. 2, "Philippine Isl." 

 (1760). 



\Merops ornatus. Lath., v. Martens, J. f. O. 1866, p. 17. 



Hab. Luzon, April ; Negros, March [Meyer). 



The four examples obtained are in perfect plumage. Seen from above, they exactly 

 correspond in colouring with M. quinticolor. Underneath the plumage closely resembles that 

 on the under surface of M. sumatranns. Raffles, =3/. cyanopygius. Less., of Sumatra, Malacca, 

 and Borneo. The head, nape, and back of the latter species are dark chocolate; and it has been 

 hitherto identified by general consent with M. badins, Gm. The same parts in these Philippine 

 specimens are bright chestnut. They are without doubt the true Merops hadius, Gm., founded 

 on Brisson' s Guesj)ier de I'isle de France. On this Brissonian species all the titles given above 

 were directly or indirectly based. 



Brisson's diagnosis of the upper parts is as follows : — " Partes capitis et colli superiores, sicut Tr. Z. S. ix. 

 et dorsi suprema, et scapulares pemm sunt eleganter castaneoer In the French he characterizes ^' ^^^' 



t Miiller, for some unaccountable reason, bestowed the title cited, although he states that the species dwells in the 

 Isle of France. This title has priority ; but few will adopt it. 



2t 



