INDIAN BEE-EATER. 15? 



green ; the breast and belly are of a light green : 

 the thighs of a reddish brown : the coverts beneath 

 the tail are of a dirty green : the greater quills of 

 the wings are black or dusky at their tips, having 

 a little green at their edges near the roots: the 

 middle quills are of an orange-colour, bordered 

 with green, having black spots a little within their 

 tips, the very tips being orange-colour; the inner 

 quills next the back are wholly green: the first 

 row of coverts above the quills are orange in their 

 middles, and green on their borders : the tail is 

 green; the shafts of the feathers dark brown: the 

 two middle feathers shoot out more than two inches 

 beyond the rest, and are brown at their tips, being 

 little more than bare shafts : the under side of the 

 tail is of a duskj^ green : the legs short, as in the 

 Kingfisher, of which it is a species, and of a dusky 

 brown colour : the three forward toes are joined 

 partly together, the outer to the middle one more 

 especially." 



This species appears to be subject to some va- 

 riety in point of colour. In a specimen described 

 by Dr. Latham, the upper parts of the bird were 

 green-gold; the under parts green, changing to 

 blue under the throat : in other particulars resem- 

 bling the former, but without the red or orange- 

 coloured crown and neck. Native of Bengal, and 

 likewise of some parts of Madagascar, &c. 



