MEROPS. 10 f 



longitudinal blackish streaks ; neck with a white spot; collar rufescent. 

 Wing-coverts and scapulars edged with bufFy or tawny ; quills with a 

 white spot on each of the first four feathers, and mottled at the tip; 

 the exterior leathers with a large white patch near the tips of the inner 

 webs ; a central patch of white on the throat. Lower parts and tail 

 irregularly barred and mottled lightly; the tail, in the male, with white 

 spots on the outer tail feathers ; tarsi bare. 



Length. — 9 inches, extent 18 to 18'5, wing 65 to 6, tail 4"5. 



Eab. — Very widely spread in India and Ceylon. Occurs in Sind, 

 the Concan and Deccan, Kutch, Kattiawar, and North Guzerat; 

 recorded also from Upper Pegu and Amherst. 



Caprimulgus mahrattensis, Sylces ; Jerd. III. Ind. Orn. pi. 24; 

 Gould. B. Asia; Jerd. i. p. 197, No. 113; Hame, Str. F. i. 167 ; iii. 

 206, 331, 455; iv. 25i, 501; vii. 181; viii. 372; ix. 381; Murrai/, 

 Hdhk., Zool., 8fc., Sind, p. 127. — Stkes' Night- Jae. 



The general colour is a pale sandy-grey, variegated with pencillings 

 of dusky and ferruginous ; head very sparingly streaked and spotted ; 

 breast with a white spot ; wing-coverts, scapulars, and tertiaries, with 

 bufiy spots; primaries with a white spot on the outer webs of the three 

 exterior feathers, mottled grey at the tip and with fulvous bands ; tail 

 pale grey; the central feathers finely verniiculated; the rest with zigzag 

 pencillings or bands of black, tipped fulvous and spotted on the two 

 lateral feathers with white ; under tail-coverts fulvous. 



Length. — 8'75 to 9'6 inches, wing 6*75 to 7, tail 4-5 to 5. 



Hab. — India generally and Ceylon. A permanent resident in Sind, 

 breeding on the plains in February and March. Probably a resident 

 also of Kutch, Kattiawar, N. Guzerat, and Jodhpore. Occurs in the 

 Punjab (Dera Ghazi Khan) Beloochistan and the Deccan, also in Upper 

 Pegu, where it is recorded to have been found. 



Family, MEROPID^,— Bee-Eaters. 

 Bill long; both mandibles curved and sharp ; nostrils partly hidden 

 by short bristles; wings long and pointed; tail long and broad; central 

 ■feathers generally elongated; tarsi short; toes long, two exterior 

 united to middle ; hind toe with a pad beneath. 



Gen. Merops. — Linn. 



Second quill longest; tail with two middle feathers elongated ; tarsi 

 scaled; outer toe longer than inner; wings reaching two-thirds the 

 length of tail. 



Merops viridis, Linn.; Edw. B. pi. 83; Lav. Gunp.t. 10, 11 ; Jerd. 

 B. Tnd. i. p. 205, No. 117; Eume, Str. F. i. 167; iii- 49;iv. 304; 

 vi. 67; vii. 35, 54, 77, 203, 258, 365, 370; ix. 48, 152, 381. 



Above bright grass green ; below bright green, mixed with ver- 

 digris; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts slightly paler and with a 

 bluish tinge; head, nape, and hind neck burnished with golden; 

 eye streak from base of bill through the ^e to ear-coverts, and a 



