68 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Genus MELITTOPHAGUS, Boie. 
469. MELITTOPHAGUS LESCHENAULTI, 
THE CHESTNUT-HEADED BEE-EATER. 
Merops leschenaulti, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'^Hist. Nat. xiv. p. 17 ; Anders. Yunnan 
Exped. p. 582 ; IIu7ne ^ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 68. Merops quinticolor ( V.), Jerd. 
B. Ind. i. p. 208 5 Wald. Ibis, 1873, p. 301. Merops daudini {Cuv.\ Swinhoe, 
P. Z. S. 1871, p. 348. Merops swinlioei, Htmie, Nests and Eggs, p. 102 ; id. 
S. F. ii. p. 163, iii. p. 50 Armstrong, S. F. iy. p. 305 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, 
p. 312 Hume, 8. F. vii. p. 455, viii. p. 85 ; Parker, S. F. ix. p. 478. Merops 
erytlirocephalus (Gm.), Bl. 8f Wald. B. Burm. p. 72. 
Description. — Male and female. Forehead^ crowrL_, nape^ upper back and 
ear-coverts bright cbestnut ; lores black_, continued as a band under the eye 
and ear-coverts ; wing-coverts, lower back and tertiaries green, the latter 
tipped with bluish ; rump and upper tail-coverts pale shining blue ; 
primaries and secondaries green, rufous on the inner webs, and all tipped 
dusky j central tail-feathers bluish on the outer, and green on the inner 
webs ; the others green^ margined on the inner web with brown and all 
tipped dusky ; sides of face, chin and throat yellow ; below this a broad 
band of chestnut extending to the sides of the neck and meeting the 
chestnut of the upper plumage ; below this again a short distinct band of 
black and then an ill-defined band of yellow ; remainder of lower plumage 
gieen, tipped with blue, especially on the vent and under tail-coverts. 
Iris crimson ; bill black ; legs dusky black ; claws dark horn-colour. 
Length 8-5 inches, tail 3*5, wing 4*2, tarsus -4, bill from gape 1'7. The 
female is of about the same size. 
Vieillot received Bee-eaters of this form both from Java and Ceylon, 
but the birds appear to have got mixed up : most probably in his day 
few or no birds were labelled. In any case, he recognized two species and 
described them in great detail. Of the bird which he thought came from 
J ava, but which in reality must have been received from Ceylon or some 
other part of India, he says, ^' une plaque triangulaire d''un roux jaunatre 
couvre la gorge,^'' and la queue est d''un blue-vert en dessus.^^ This 
appears to me to fix the species beyond all doubt ; and although he refers 
to Levaillant's plate, which represents a Javan bird with the whole throat 
yellow, I think more weight should be attached to an elaborate description 
than to a mere detail of synonymy, and I therefore retain his name in pre- 
ference to Mr. Hume^s. 
The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater is sparingly distributed throughout the 
whole province. 
It is found in Siam and Cochin China and it has also occurred in China. 
