68 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Genus MELITTOPHAGUS, Sow. 



459. MELITTOPHAGUS LESCHENAULTL 

 THE CHESTNUT-HEADED BEE-EATER. 



Merops leschenaulti, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xiv. p. 17 j Anders. Yunnan 

 Exped. p. 582 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 68. Merops quinticolor ( V.), Jerd. 

 B. Ind. i. p. 208 j Wold. Ibis, 1873, p. 301. Merops daudini (Cuv.\ Swinhoe, 

 P. Z. S. 1871, p. 348. Merops swinhoei, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 102 ; id. 

 S. F. ii. p. 163, iii. p. 50 j Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 305; Legge, Birds Ceylon, 

 p. 312 ; Hume, S. F. vii. p. 455, viii. p. 85 ; Parker, S. F. ix. p. 478. Merops 

 erythrocephalus (#m.), Bl fy Wald. B. Burm. p. 72. 



Description. Male and female. Forehead, crown, nape, upper back and 

 ear-coverts bright chestnut ; lores black, continued as a band under the eye 

 and ear-coverts ; wing-coverts, lower back and tertiaries green, the latter 

 tipped with bluish; rump and upper tail-coverts pale shining blue; 

 primaries and secondaries green, rufous on the inner webs, and all tipped 

 dusky ; central tail-feathers bluish on the outer, and green on the inner 

 webs ; the others green, margined on the inner web with brown and all 

 tipped dusky ; sides of face, chin and throat yellow ; below this a broad 

 band of chestnut extending to the sides of the neck and meeting the 

 chestnut of the upper plumage ; below this again a short distinct band of 

 black and then an ill- defined band of yellow ; remainder of lower plumage 

 gieen, tipped with blue, especially on the vent and under tail-coverts. 



Iris crimson ; bill black ; legs dusky black ; claws dark horn-colour. 



Length 8'5 inches, tail 3*5, wing 4*2, tarsus '4, bill from gape 1*7. The 

 female is of about the same size. 



Vieillot received Bee-eaters of this form both from Java and Ceylon, 

 but the birds appear to have got mixed up : most probably in his day 

 few or no birds were labelled. In any case, he recognized two species and 

 described them in great detail. Of the bird which he thought came from 

 Java, but which in reality must have been received from Ceylon or some 

 other part of India, he says, " une plaque triangulaire d'un roux jaunatre 

 couvre la gorge/'' and "la queue est d'un blue-vert en dessus." This 

 appears to me to fix the species beyond all doubt ; and although he refers 

 to Levaillant's plate, which represents a Javan bird with the whole throat 

 yellow, I think more weight should be attached to an elaborate description 

 than to a mere detail of synonymy, and I therefore retain his name in pre- 

 ference to Mr. Hume's. 



The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater is sparingly distributed throughout the 

 whole province. 



It is found in Siam and Cochin China and it has also occurred in China. 



