THE CHESTNUT-BACKED BEE-EATEK 
usually two or three or even more side by side, on a telegraph 
wire or branch. When in the air the triani^ular wings and 
the noisy note (which to onr mind always seems like a distance 
note of a referees* whistle or the shorter notes of a water 
whistle) characterise tlic species, 
Other habits: — ^Bee-eaters are g^regarious birds and at 
times cong^reg^ate into flocks numbering one hundred or so 
individuals. Their movements in the air arc not unlike those 
of the swifts and swallows, in the company of wliicli they 
sometimes hunt. *'Whcn burning scrub, the birds often came 
to catch the grasshoppers driven out by the fire, and at the 
first puff of smoke, they would hasten to take up their position 
on the nearest small tree and commence dashing into the smoke 
after their prey.'* — (Rid ley I . 
The blue-tailed bee-eater (Merops sHpcfciHosns javanicus) 
has the sexes very similar in appearance, 'l he upper parts 
are mostly grreen. hut distinctly bluish on the rum]) and tail. ' 
A broad black streak passes through the eye. The chin is 
yellow, the throat rufous and the breast and abdomen green 
passing into blue on the under tail coverts. It is a shghtly 
larger bird than M. Hindis, but there is little in it and the 
wing of jaranicns only just exceeds 5 inches, so that in the 
field the two species look very much of the same size. 
It is quite a common bird in Singapore but not resident 
and only seen during the *Svet" season. Most of the locally 
collected bee-eaters in the Raffles Museum are of this species, 
Kclham records: "Arriving in great numbers toward the 
end of September" and we can vouch for their abundance in 
or near Singapore from November to at least the middle of 
March. Mr. Wait says that in Ceylon they arrive about the 
end of August and leave in April. Bee-eaters wouId.be 
pleasant (and useful) birds to study in Singapore. The species 
are easy of recog^nition and daily kept records would perhaps 
explain the rather curious movements of t^iridis and further- 
more fix the exact Singapore * 'season** of javankus. 
It may be mentioned here that M. tnridis is the bird much 
better known as stmiatramu and is the badms of Kelham's 
paper, jif. s. jaz^amciis was formerly known as A/, phitff^pinus. 
Bee-eaters arc almost the only land birds of which we have 
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