THE ISLANDS OF THE BAY OF BENGAL. 163 



M . quinticolor ; it may be seen for an hour at a time taking 

 long sailing flights. I have seen 10 or 12 of these birds hawk- 

 ing over the grassy hills in the interior of the island of Camorta. 

 I was unable to ascertain whether they breed at Nicobars or 

 not. It is known to the Nicobarese by the name of Shale." 

 I saw it at the Cocos, but failed to procure a specimen. 



191.— Merops Swinhoei, Nobis. (32.) 



We secured a very large series of this bird ; I have com- 

 pared the Andaman specimens with birds from all parts of 

 India, from Anjango in the south to Dehra Doon in the 

 north, and again to Tipperah on the east; all appear to 

 belong to the same species. The birds l( differ" inter se a 

 good deal in the length of bill, the depth of the chesnut color- 

 ing of the head and upper back, the brightness of the 3'ellow 

 of the chin and throat, and the extent of the bright rufous 

 band or triangular patch at the base of the throat, but these 

 differences appear to me, after examining a very large series, to 

 be individual, and to be dependent on age and sex, and not on 

 locality. 



Lord Walden remarks in a recent Ibis that Mr. Swinhoe 

 first drew attention to the fact that the Javan form, which must 

 bear Vieillot's name of quinticolor, is specifically different from 

 the Indian, in that it constantly wants the chesnut triangular 

 throat mark, the yellow throat being sharply separated from 

 the green breast by a well-defined black band. In Indian 

 specimens this black band is surmounted by a more or less 

 broad band, or in some instances triangular shaped spot, of 

 nearly the same deep chesnut as the head. Lord Walden further 

 shows that Brisson's name of erythrocephaliis cannot stand for 

 the Indian bird, which he considers to be at present a u sine 

 nomine corpus" Now the bird must have some name, and if 

 Lord Walden is correct, it had better be christened as above 

 after the distinguished ornithologist already referred to. 



Davison remarks : — " This species is very common in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of Port Blair, but it is also found, though more 

 sparingly, in the Great and Little Cocos, Strait Island, &c, &c. 

 It is a bird that seldom wanders very far from the forest, and 

 although it is occasionally met with in some extensive clearing, 

 yet it chiefly frequents the roads, running through forest, or well- 

 wooded gardens. They breed at the Andamans, and I found 

 them commencing to perforate the banks for their nests just 

 before I left the Andamans in the middle of May." We never 

 met with this species in the Nicobars. 



