66 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



rufous on the inner, all tipped dusky ; secondaries all rufous, broadly 

 tipped with black, and faintly edged exteriorly with green ; tail-feathers 

 bronze-colour, tipped dusky and narrowly edged with blue; a line of 

 bright blue under the black of the face ; cheeks, chin and throat greenish 

 blue ; below this an indistinct rufous collar, then a band of black ; sides of 

 the breast tinged with buff; lower plumage light green tinged with 

 verdigris ; under wing-coverts chestnut. 



Iris bright red ; bill black, becoming brown at the gape ; eyelids smoky 

 brown ; mouth dusky flesh-colour ; legs pinkish grey ; claws horn-colour. 



Length 9*2 inches, tail 4*7, wing 3'7, tarsus *4, bill from gape ] *3. The 

 female is of the same size. 



The only variation in plumage this bird is liable to is in the colour 

 of the head. In Burmah the head is a deep rufous, and in Scinde, at the 

 other end of its range, the rufous tinge is almost entirely wanting. 



The Green Bee-eater is abundant over the whole of British Burmah 

 except in the south of Tenasserim, where, according to Mr. Davison, it is 

 not found south of Mergui, nor does it in any part of the country ascend 

 the higher mountains. 



It is found throughout the Indo- Burmese countries and over the whole 

 peninsula of India and Ceylon. It has not yet been recorded from China, 

 but it occurs in Siam and Cochin China. 



This Bee-eater is one of the commonest and best known birds of Burmah, 

 being found in every part of the country. Its habits are too well known 

 to require any description. It breeds in April and May, making a tunnel 

 in any convenient bank and laying its white eggs, four or five in number, 

 in a small chamber at the end of the tunnel, which varies in length from 

 two to five feet. 



458. MEROPS PHILIPPINUS. 

 THE BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER. 



Merops philippinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 13, i. p. 183 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 

 p. 101; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 89; Wold. Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. p. 149; Bl. 

 B. Burm. p. 72; Gates, S. F. v. p. 143 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 72 ; Legge, 

 Birds Ceylon, p. 306 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 67 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85 ; 

 Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 152 ; Kelham, Ibis, 1881, p. 378. Merops daudini, 

 Cuvier, Regn. Anim. 1829, i. p. 442 ; Hume, S. F. ii. p. 162, iii. p. 49 ; Arm- 

 strong, S. F. iv. p. 304. Merops philippensis (Z.), Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 207 ; 

 Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 581. 



Description. Male and female. Lores and a broad line through the eyes 

 and ear-coverts black ; above this a narrow line of pale blue, below it a 



