MEROPS PHILIPPINUS. 



(THE BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER.) 



Merops philippinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. xiii. torn. i. p. 183 (1767) ; Lath. Ind. Orn. torn. i. 



p. 271 (1790) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 52 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 



p. 118 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 173 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. 



B. Mus. E. I. Co. p. 87 (1854) ; Gould, B. of Asia, pt. vii. (1855) ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 422 ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 281 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, i. p. 101 ; id. Str. Feath. 



1876, p. 287. 

 Merops javanicus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 294 (1820). 

 Mcrops daudinii, Cuv. Eegn. An. 1829, t. i. p. 442. 

 Merops philippensis, Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 207 ; Blyth, Comm. Jerd. B. of Ind., Ibis, I860, 



p. 344 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 13. 

 Grand Guepier des Philippines (juv.), Buffon, PL Enl. 57 ; Le Guepier Daudin (juv.), Levaill. 



pi. 14, p. 49 ; "Flycatcher" of Europeans in India and Ceylon. 

 Boro-putringa, Beng. ; Burra-putringa, Hind. ; Komu passeri/ci, Tel. (Jerdon) ; Kachangan, 



Java (Horsf.) ; Berraij Berraij, Malay; Shale, Nicobarese (Davison). 

 Kurumenne kurnlla, lit. "Beetle-bird," Sinbalese; Kattalan kuruvi, lit. "Aloe-bird " *, Tam. ; 



Pappugai de Champ, Portug., lit. " Ground-Parrot " (apud Layard). 



. {lult male and female. Length 12-0 inches ; wing 5'0 to 5-4 ; tail 5-9, central feathers 2-3 longer than the rest ; tarsus 

 0-45 to 0"5 ; mid toe and claw 0-85 ; bill to gape (straight) 2-0 to 2-1. Expanse 16-75. 



Ins scarlet; bill black ; legs and feet blackish, hinder part of tarsus paler. 



Il^ad, back, and sides of neck, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts shining brownish green, brownest on the head and 

 hind neck, and passing into the bright green-blue of the rump and upper tail-coverts ; external edges of the 

 primaries and secondaries greenish blue, the remaining portion of the feathers pervaded with brown, which 

 changes at the basal part of the inner webs into cinnamon-rufous ; tips of the shorter primaries and of all the 

 secondaries blackish brown ; terminal portion of the tertials and the tail (with the exception of the blackish 

 elongated tips of the central feathers) bright greenish blue, the rectrices brownish internally. 



A broad black streak from the gape over the eye and ear-coverts, above it a faint line from the forehead to the posterior 

 corner of the eye, and beneath it a broader stripe of bright greenish blue, the latter very pale at the termination ; 

 chin and upper part of throat yellowish ; fore neck chestnut-colour, gradually changing into the faded greenish of 

 the breast, which brightens into cerulean blue on the under tail-coverts ; the basal portions of the uuder-surface 

 feathers light brownish, showing more or less throughout ; under wing concolorous with the cinnamon bases of 

 the quills; shafts of the quills and rectrices white beneath. 



Young. Iris dull red or brownish red, changing into the hue of the adult during the first year. 



Vbove greener than the adult ; the bases of the feathers brownish green ; rump aud upper tail-coverts not so bright as 

 iu the adult ; central rectrices not elongated, but slightly exceeding the rest and more pointed at the tips. The 

 blue loral and cheek-stripes less conspicuous, and the chin not so yellow as iu the adult ; under tail-coverts- 

 paling at their lateral margins. 



The above is the plumage of the young birds arriving in Ceylon in September ; they quickly acquire the adult tail, and 

 meanwhile the normal yellowish feathers of the chin and the chestnut ones of the throat make their appearance, 

 the latter part in the quite young bird being much paler than in the adult. 



Ohn. I have examined some examples from Sumatra, and one or two from India, in the British Museum, which have 



* According to Layard from a fancied resemblance iu the tail of this bird to the aloe-plant. 



