62 MEKOPIDJ3. 



eggs from the roadside just above the dak bungalow at the above- 

 mentioned place, and I have shot the bird in the Neddivuttura 

 Chinchona Plantations, about 6000 feet above the sea. My 

 experience is that it ascends the hills somewhat higher than 

 M. quinticolor, and certainly breeds at a higher elevation than the 

 last-named species. With us on the Nilghiris it breeds at the 

 same time as M. quinticolor that is to say, in March and April 

 and in the same situations ; often the nests of both species may be 

 found side by side. I have noticed that this bird appears to lay 

 its eggs with intervals of several days between each, for I have 

 taken out of the nest a perfectly fresh egg, and one a good deal 

 incubated, and I have found in another nest four young ones, the 

 youngest apparently only a couple or three days old, and the 

 oldest more than half-fledged. I have not found this the case 

 with M. quinticolor. I, on one occasion, took six eggs from a nest 

 of this species, but generally the number appears to be four or 

 five. In digging out these nests, instead of finding eggs, the 

 chamber often turns out to be occupied by mole-crickets, spiders 

 or toads, and occasionally by snakes. In this species the tunnel 

 varies from about 18 inches to 4 feet in depth, and the chamber is 

 about 4 inches in diameter. The eggs are laid on the bare 

 ground ; there is no attempt at any nest." 



Colonel Legge says in his ' Birds of Ceylon ' : " This Bee-eater 

 breeds in the sand-hills at Hambantota and other similar localities 

 in Ceylon. I found the young fledged on the south-east coast in 

 June, but did not succeed in finding any nests. The nesting-time 

 is in April and May." 



Mr. Gates writing from Pegu tells us that the breeding-season 

 of this Bee-eater is April and May. 



And from Tenasserim Major Bingharn writes: "Except in 

 heavy forest-land this little bird is as common in Tenasserim 

 almost as in the North-west Provinces of India. It crosses the 

 Dawna range into the Thoungyeen valley, and is found in suitable 

 spots all along the river. It is a permanent resident and breeds 

 there." 



The eggs little polished alabaster balls are alone sufficient to 

 show how close are the affinities, despite external differences of 

 form, between the Meropidce, Alcedinidcr, and Coraciidce. In size 

 the eggs of the various species of these families differ no doubt, 

 but in every other respect they seem to me identical. The eggs of 

 M. viridis, like those of all its affines, are nearly spherical in shape, 

 milky-white in hue and brilliantly glossy. They are small, I think, 

 for the size of the bird, being considerably less than those of 

 Alcedo ispida, which they closely resemble. Occasionally, a some- 

 what oval or pyriform egg is met with, but, as a rule, they are the 

 most truly spherical eggs I know of. 



They vary in length from 0-68 to 0-82 inch, and in breadth from 

 0-64 to 0'73 inch ; but the average of a very large series is 0'78 by 

 0'7 inch. 



