MELITTOPHAGUS. 67 



Melittophagus quinticolor (Vieill.)- The Chestnut-headed 

 Bee-eater. 



Merops quinticolor, Vieill., Jei'd. B. 2nd. i, p. 208. 



Merops swinhoei, Hume ; Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 119. 



Mr. Davison gives me the following note on the nidification of 

 the Chestnut-headed Bee-eater : " This bird breeds on the slopes 

 of the Xilghiris during March and April. They bore holes in the 

 sandy parts of banks varying in depth from 3 to 6 feet ; some are 

 quite straight, others after a depth of a foot or 18 inches turn off 

 at almost a right aDgle, and others again take a somewhat circular 

 direction. The tunnel always terminates in a circular chamber, 

 about 6 inches in diameter, which is never lined ; the eggs, four to 

 six in number, being deposited on the bare and generally somewhat 

 damp floor of the chamber. One favourite breeding locality is the 

 sandy portion of the banks on the Seegore Eoad, leading from the 

 Xilghiris to Mysore ; along 5 or 6 miles of this road the banks are 

 drilled with innumerable holes of this species and Merops viridis, 

 sometimes eight or ten together, at others scattered singly along 

 the sandy portions of the bank. The bird sits very close, and 

 invariably allows itself to be dug out without attempting to escape. 

 The diameter of the tunnel of this species is somewhat larger than 

 that of M. viridis ; in fact, by looking at the holes (when made in 

 a comparatively stiff soil) it is easy to tell which of them pertain 

 to which species. 



" 1 found these birds only commencing to make their holes about 

 the middle of April at the Andamans, although the birds had been 

 seen in pairs since the latter end of March." 



Layard has described the breeding of this species in Ceylon, 

 Ann. Mag. X. H. 1853, xii, p. 174. 



Mr. W. Theobald has the following remarks on its nidification 

 in Mergui : " Lays in the third week of March. Eggs 5 or 6 in 

 number, pointed oval. Size O84 inch by 0*79 inch, colour pure 

 white. Grallery from 1 to 7 feet in length, in soft sandy soil near 

 water : it enters the ground at a small angle and then runs 

 horizontally." 



I found this bird breeding at the close of April in a nullah near 

 the Granges in the Eastern Dooii, which in those days was one vast 

 forest. There was a colony of about a dozen pairs, and the only 

 nest I opened was about 4 feet deep, and contained four eggs. 



Mr. J. Darling, Junior, says : " 1 found four nests of this bird 

 on April loth, 1873, at Vythery, about 2300 feet, in the soft 

 bank of a road, containing respectively 6 hard-set eggs ; 5 hard- 

 set eggs ; 3 young birds, and 3 eggs ready to hatch ; 5 young 

 birds, and one egg ready to hatch off. The hole leading in to the 

 nest was 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and from 2 to 5 feet deep." 



Colonel Legge says in the ' Birds of Ceylon ' : " I found the 

 nest of this bird on the banks of the Gindurah in the month of 

 April." 



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