Tr. Z. S. ix, 

 p. loi'. 



318 ON THE BIEDS DsTIABITIXG [1875. 



the colourino- of these parts as being of a " beau marron." With the Philippine bird to compare, 

 it is impossible not to recognize in it the Brissonian species ; but in its absence the Malayan 

 Bee-eater satisfies the complete diagnosis, provided we are prepared to read " eleganter castanece " 

 as meanino- chocolate-colour. It is therefore not surprising that the Malayan Merops should 

 hitherto have been referred to M. badius, Gm. ; and we are indebted to Dr. A. B. Meyer for 

 recovering a species so long unrecognized. 



Both D'Aubenton and Le Vaillaut figure the Brissonian species with a bright chestnut head 

 and back, the latter author, with his accustomed inaccuracy, stating that he had met the bird on 

 the east coast of Africa, near the Cafire country, where it remained about fifteen days ; but as 

 the flocks did not remain there longer, and he never saw the species again, he was unable to say 

 whether it nested in that country ! It is very questionable if Le Vaillant ever saw the bird at 

 all ; for, although the colouring of his plate agrees with the Brissonian description, in the 

 letterpress Le Vaillant says that the chestnut mantle only covers the upper back, while he 

 describes the head and the ivinc/s as blue like the rest of the body. Montbeillard's account (I. c.) 

 appears by internal evidence to have been taken from Brisson. D'Aubenton's plate may or may 

 not have been coloured from an actual example ; but whether the two figures were composed 

 from Brisson's description or drawn from real specimens, they are of value, as showing the nature 

 of the chestnut colouring of the head and back, — if from the description, by depicting the colour 

 " beau marron " — if from the bird itself, by representing its coloration. 



Dr. V. Martens (I. c.) introduces 31, ornatus. Lath., as a Philippine species he had observed 

 preserved in the Military Library at Manilla. He describes it as having the entire under surface 

 of a lively grass-green, and as having no throat-band. Judging by the young plumage of 

 M. sumatranus. Raffles, before the chocolate mantle is assumed, it is not improbable that the 

 bird described was a young individual of M. bicolor. Ajnaster fhilippensis minor, Briss. {I. c), 

 up to now an unidentified species, with the middle pair of rectrices not fully developed, and 

 regarded by Montbeillard [torn. cit. p. 500) as being the same as M. viridis, Linn., probably was 

 founded on M. bicoJor in immature dress. 



M. bicolor seems to be the species of Merops inhabiting Negros, alluded to by Mr. L. C. 

 Layard (Ibis, 1872, p. 96). 



The Bee-eater which inhabits Sumatra, Malacca, and Borneo (Plate XXVI. fig. 2, in orig.), 

 and hitherto referred to M. badius, Gm., will stand : — 



Merops sumatranus. Raffles, Tr. L. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 29-i, "Sumatra " (1821). 



Merops cyanopyijius. Less. Tr. p. 238, Pair, non indie. (1831), ex " Sumatra and 3a.\a,"Jide 

 Pucher. R. Mag. Zool. 1853, p. 391. 



Melittophas lujpoglaucus, Reichenb. Handb. p. 82 (1854). 



Melittophas bicolor (Bodd.), ap. Cab. Mus. Hein. pt. 2, p. 137, " Malacca, Borneo, Simiatra," 

 nee Bodd. 



Merops badius, Gm., auct. recent., nee Gm. 



Le Guepier de Sumatra, Less., Complem. Buffon, ii. Ois. 2nd ed. pi. — , f. 2 (1840). 



According to Dr. Pucheran [I. c.), M. cyanopygius. Lesson, adult, was founded on a Sumatran 

 and a Javan example. Prince Bonaparte (Consp. i. p. 162) gives Sumatra and Borneo as the 

 habitat. There is probably an error in the assigned Javan origin of this Bee-eater ; for its 



