MEROPS VIBIDIS. 



(THE GREEN BEE-EATER.) 



Merops viridis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 182 (1766); Bonn. Enc. Meth. Orn. pt. i. p. 273, 

 pi. 105. fig. 3 (1790) ; Sykes, Cat. no. 23, J. A. S. B. iii. (1834) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. 

 A. S. B. no. 236, p. 53 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 119 (1852) ; Layard, 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 173; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. 

 p. 84 (1851) ; Gould, B. of Asia, pt. vii. (1855) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 205 (1862) ; 

 Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 422; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 99 (1873); Adam, 

 Str. Feath. 1873, p. 371 ; Hume, ibid. 1875, p. 49; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 281 ; Oates, 

 Str. Eeath. 1876, p. 304 ; Dresser, B. of Europe, pt. 51 (1876). 



Merops orientalis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. 33 (1801). 



Merops indicus, Jerd. Madr. Journ. xi. p. 227 (1840). 



Merops torquatus, Hodgs. Gray's Zool. Misc. 1844, p. 82. 



The Indian Bee-eater, Edwards, pi. 183. 



Le Guepier a gorge bleue, Levaill. pi. 10. p. 39. 



The Common Indian Bee-eater (Jerdon) ; Flycatcher, Europeans in India and Ceylon ; Hurrial, 

 Patringa, Hind. ; Bansputtee, lit. " Bamboodeaf,'' Bengal ; Chinna passeriki, Tel., lit. 

 " Small green bird " (Jerd.) ; Mo-na-gyee, Arracan (Blyth). 



Kurumenne Jcurulla, Sinhalese ; Kattalan kuruvi, Tamils in Ceylon. 



Adult male and female. Length 9 - 5 to 10'5 inches, according to length of tail; wing 3 - 6 to 3*8; tail 5 - l, central 

 feathers 2-0 to 2-3 longer than rest ; tarsus 0'4 ; middle toe and claw 0'6 ; bill to gape 1-4 to 1-55. 



Iris scarlet ; bill black ; legs and feet brown, the edges of scales whitish. 



Above leaf-green with a bronze lustre, paling to bluish green on the tertials, rump, and upper tail-coverts; basal or 

 concealed portion of the head- and nape-feathers golden fulvous, showing on the surface at the occiput and nape ; 

 quills deeply tipped with blackish ; inner webs of secondaries and borders of those of primaries pale cinnamon, 

 which is likewise the colour of the under wing ; tail green, with the tips of the shorter and elongated portion of 

 the central feathers blackish. 



A broad black stripe from nostril and gape over the eye and ear-coverts; above it a narrow yellowish-green super - 

 cilium ; chin and throat greenish turquoise-blue, deepening into brownish green on the upper breast, aud paling 

 into bluish green on the lower parts and under tail-coverts ; across the throat a conspicuous black band, edged 

 above and beneath with bright yellow-green ; vent whitish. 



Birds in old plumage have the nape and occiput much yellower than those in good feather, the paler colour being ths 

 result of abrasion ; this must not, however, be confounded with the fine aureous lustre observable in some 

 specimens, particularly those from N.E. India and Burmah. 



Young. Iris light red or yellowish red ; bill generally pale at the base beneath ; legs and feet blackish slate. Central 

 tail-feathers not lengthened. 



Above green, the feathers edged with bluish ; aural stripe blackish brown ; throat, neck, and chest greenish blue, 

 palest on the chin ; lower breast and belly albescent ; under tail-coverts bluish green. Some nestlings have the 

 throat tinted with yellowish. The black throat-bar is acquired at a very early age, but is narrow and ill-defined, 

 and in some edged with blue ; the long central tail-feathers are likewise acquired, about the same time, by a 

 "nestling " moult, although tolerably old yearlings may now and then be seen without them. 



Obs. Ceylonese specimens of this Bee-eater vary, as above mentioned, in the golden hue of the nape and hind neck, 

 but do not exhibit the brilliant hue of birds from Cachar and Burmah, to which Hodgson gave Ins name of 



