56 



PICARIAN BIRDS. 



Celebean 

 Bee-Eater. 



In the island of Celebes is found a peculiar species (Mesopogon 

 forsteni), characterised by having the two central tail-feathers 

 elongated, as in the genus Merops, but with a bunch of overhanging plumes on 

 the breast The colour of the bird is green, the quills being dusky at the ends, 

 the central tail-feathers green, but the rest chestnut with green edges ; the head, 

 throat, and breast are deep ultramarine; the hind-neck maroon - brown ; the 

 abdomen dusky blackish washed with green; under tail-coverts chestnut with 

 green margins ; the total length is 13 inchea The species is only found, according 

 to Dr. Meyer, in dense forests difficult of access, where it inhabits the highest trees, 

 and has the manners and ways of other bee-eaters. 



BLUE-BEARDED BEE-EATER [\ nat. size). 



■me Bearded The two species constituting the genus Nyctiornis are distin- 



Bee-Eaters. guished not only by the tufts of feathers on the breast, but also 

 by the squared tail and densely feathered nostrils. The blue-bearded bee-eater 

 {N. ashertoni) is an Indian bird, extending east to Siam, but replaced in Tenasserim 

 and the Malay region by the scarlet-bearded bee-eater (iVl amicta), a beautiful 

 species, with the long feathers of the throat scarlet instead of blue, and the fore- 

 head lilac instead of bluish green. This species is said by Mr. Whitehead to be 

 fairly common in parts of Borneo, frequenting the high forest, where it sits 

 solitary'- on the lower boughs of trees, making short flights after insects. Although 

 there is one statement as to its eggs having been taken from a tunnel, the 

 blue-bearded bee-eater is believed to nest in holes in trees, having been seen to 

 fly out of such cavities in Tenasserim. 



