66 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
rufous on the inner, all tipped dusky ; secondaries all rufous, broadly 
tipped with black, and faintly edged exteriorly with green ; tail-feathers 
bronze- colour, tipped dusky and narrowly edged with blue; a line of 
bright blue under the black of the face ; cheeks, chin and throat greenish 
blue ; below this an indistinct rufous collar, then a band of black ; sides of 
the breast tinged with buff ; lower plumage light green tinged with 
verdigris ; under wing-coverts chestnut. 
Iris bright red ; bill black, becoming brown at the gape ; eyelids smoky 
brown; mouth dusky llesh-colour ; legs pinkish grey; claws horn-colour. 
Length 9*2 inches, tail 4*7, wing 3'7, tarsus '4, bill from gape ]'3. The 
female is of the same size. 
The only variation in plumage this bird is liable to is in the colour 
of the head. In Burmah the head is a deep rufous, and in Scinde, at the 
other end of its range, the rufous tinge is almost entirely wanting. 
The Green Bee-eater is abundant over the whole of British Burmah 
except in the south of Tenasserim, where, according to Mr. Davison, it is 
not found south of Mergui, nor does it in any part of the country ascend 
the higher mountains. 
It is found throughout the Indo- Burmese countries and over the whole 
peninsula of India and Ceylon. It has not yet been recorded from China, 
but it occurs in Siam and Cochin China. 
This Bee-eater is one of the commonest and best known birds of Burmah, 
being found in every part of the country. Its habits are too well known 
to require any description. It breeds in April and May, making a tunnel 
in any convenient bank and laying its white eggs, four or five in number, 
in a small chamber at the end of the tunnel, which varies in length from 
two to five feet. 
458. MEEOPS PHILIPPINUS. 
THE BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER. 
Merops philippinus^ Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 13, i. p. 183 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 
p. 101 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 89 ; Wald. Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. p. 149 ; Bl. 
B. Burm. p. 72; Oates, S. F. v. p. 143 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, ^. 72 ; Legge, 
Birds Ceylon, p. 306; Hume Sf Bav. S. F. \\. p, 67; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85; 
Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 152 ; Kelham, Ibis, 1881, p. 378. Merops daudini, 
Cuvier, Regn. Anim. 1829, i. p. 442 ; Hume, S. F. ii. p. 162, iii. p. 49 ; Arm- 
strong, S. F. iv. p. 304. Merops philippensis (L.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 207 ; 
Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 581. 
Description. — Male and female. Lores and a broad line through the eyes 
and ear-coverts black ; above this a narrow line of pale blue, below it a 
