350 NOTES ON SOME BIRDS COLLECTED ON THE NILGHIRIS: 
have never found anything but insects in the stomach, and these 
swallowed whole, and but slightly crushed. Beetles seem to 
constitute their chief food. 
The sexes do not seem to differ perceptibly in size. Jerdon 
is not quite xccurate in his description of the colors of the soft 
parts. The following are the dimensions and colors of the soft 
parts of a female taken in the flesh :— 
Female.— Length, 12:0; expanse, 15°8 ; tail, 6°5 ; wing, 5:1 + 
tarsus, 0°6; bill from gape, 1°0; weight., 2°25 ozs. Upper 
mandible to nostril, ridge of culmen, and extreme tip of lower 
mandible blackish ; rest of bill, gape, and orbital skin cobalt 
blue; legs and feet pale purplish smalt blue ; claws paler; irides 
deep brown. 
117.—Merops viridis, Zin. ‘lhe Indian Bee-eater. 
Common on the slopes of the Nilghiris, at the foot of the 
hills and in the Wynaad and Mysore country ; on the slopes of 
Nilghiris between Kulhutty and Seegore it is especially common, 
breeding in large numbers in company with Merops swin- 
hott (119) in the banks of the road. It does not ascend quite 
to the plateau of the Nilghiris, stopping at about 6,000 feet 
elevation. 
118.—Merops philippinus, Lin. The Blue-tailed 
Bee-eater. 
In the tract of country to which the present paper refers, 
Ihave found this species very locally distributed, and not 
numerous, always in small flocks, and never staying beyond a 
few days in any one locality. I have noticed them on the 
Coonoor Ghat, on the skirts of the Government cinchona 
plantations at Neddivuttum, and in the Wynaad at the foot of 
the Bramagherries. 
119.—Merops swinhoii, Hume. The Indian Chesnut- 
headed Bee-eater. 
This handsome species is quite a common bird on_ the well- 
wooded slopes of the Nilghiris ; and it also occurs, though less 
numerously, in the Wynaad, and parts of Mysore. It does not 
ascend to the plateau of the Nilghiris. A favourite perch for 
this and J/. viridis is the telegraph wire. This species breeds nu- 
merously in company with MM. viridis on the Seegore Ghat, 
and I have also found the nests (as stated by Jerdon) in the 
banks of the road on the Coonoor Ghat. . 
