





MEROPS VIRIDIS, Linn. 

 Hurrial Bee-eater. 



Merops viridis, Linn. Syst. Nat, torn. i. p. 182 —Lath. Ind. Orn., torn. i. p. 269.— Vieill. Ency. Meth. Orn., part i. 

 p. 273. pi. 105. fig. 3.— Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 53.— Sykes, in Proc. of 

 Comm. of Sci. and Corr. of Zool. Soc, part ii. p. 82.— Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 86, 

 Merops, sp. 10.— lb. Cat. of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., part ii. sec. 1. p. 69.— Gray, Cat. of Spec, and 

 Draw, of Mamra. and Birds presented to Brit. Mus. by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., p. 58.— Bonap. Consp. 

 Gen. Av., p. 162, Merops, sp. 11.— Horsf. Cat. of Birds in Mus. East Ind. Comp., vol. i. p. 84.— 

 Layard, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xii. 2nd ser. p. 173. 



Apiaster Madagascariensis torquatus, Briss. Orn., torn. iv. p. 549. pi. xlii. fig. 2. 



Philippensis minor, Briss. Orn., torn. iv. p. 555. pi. xliii. fig. 2 ? 



Guepier a collier de Madagascar, Buff. PL Enl. 740. 



Guepier a gorge bleue, Buff. Hist. Nat. des Ois., torn. vi. p. 497. 



The Indian Bee-eater, Edw. Nat. Hist, of Birds, part. iv. p. and pi. 183. 



Indian Bee-eater, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 672.— Penn. Gen. of Birds, pp. 16, 62. pi. vii.— Shaw, Gen. 

 Zool., vol. viii. p. 156. — Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 122. 



Merops LamarcM, Cuv. R^gn. Anim. 1829, torn. i. p. 442. 



Orientalis, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol iv. p. 134 ? 



Coromandus, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 135. 



Indicus, Jerd. Journ. of Lit. and Sci., vol xi. p. 227.— Blyth, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xii. p. 93. 



torquatus, Hodgs., Gray, Zool. Misc. 1844, p. 82. 



ferrugineiceps, lb. p. 82. 



he Guepier (I gorge bleue, ou Le Guepier Lamarck, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Gu£p., t. 10. 



Le GuSpier jaune, de la cote de Coromandel, Sonn. Voy., ii. p. 213. pi. 119 ? 



Hurrial and Putringa, Hindoos, Jerdon. 



Bans-puttur ("Bamboo-leaf"), Hindoos, Blyth, Dr. F. B. Hamilton. 



Monagyee, Aracans, Blyth. 



Putinga, Capt. Boys. 





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This species of Bee-eater enjoys a far wider range of habitat than any other member of the family with 

 which I am acquainted. I have at this moment before me specimens from nearly every part of the Peninsula 

 of India, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, and others from the island of Ceylon ; the Zoological Society 

 of London possesses a specimen from the Mauritius, which so closely accords with those from India, that I 

 cannot consider it to be different; Dr. Ruppell includes it in his 'List of the Birds of North-Eastern Africa,' 

 and, as will be seen in the synonyms given above, Buffon figures it as a bird of Madagascar, from which 

 country, however, I have not myself as yet seen an example. Specimens from all these countries closely a^ree 

 in size and in their general admeasurements, but those from very distant localities offer some slight differences 

 in the colouring of their plumage : for instance, specimens from Nepaul have the crown of the head and the 

 back of the neck more strongly washed with reddish-brown than others from the more southern parts of the 

 Continent ; in like manner, specimens from Egypt accord with Indian ones in size, but have the filamentous 

 portion of the central tail-feathers longer, and no trace of the blue on the throat, — that part being of the 

 same rich golden-green as the head, a hue which also pervades the upper part of the tail. 



Although so generally dispersed over India, the bird seems to be subject to the law of migration, or at 

 least, to a change of residence, according as circumstances may be favourable to the production of the 

 requisite supply of food ; hence in Scinde, during the hot months of summer, when the vegetation is parched 

 up and insect life all but absent, the bird is not to be found in that country. In a note on Scindian birds 

 addressed to me by my son, Dr. Gould, dated Ghiznee, October 1854, he says, "The monsoon beino* now 

 over, birds are beginning to return, and Bee-eaters, Shrikes, Hoopoes, Stone-chats, Wheat-ears, Willow- 

 wrens, and many other species are now appearing amongst the rocks, where a month since nothing but a lark 

 was to be seen : and Terns, which could only be found at sea, now come wandering over the land and hunting 

 up and down in search of dragon-flies and other insects, which are now numerous." 



" This bird," says Mr. Blyth, " is extremely common, but disappears in the rainy season. It breeds in 

 the neighbourhood of Calcutta, as I have had specimens brought me with eggs ready to lay, in the month of 

 March. The general habits of this bird are those of a Fly-catcher, but it frequently hawks for insects on the 

 wing, many together, like swallows." 



Mr. Jerdon states, that "This well-known and common bird is spread in numbers over all India. It 



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