10 
information he obtained respecting the habits of this Bee-eater is considerably at variance with 
what I have gathered from later collectors. 
“ The following is a note I sent about its breeding to c Stray Feathers ’ : — 
“ ‘ I cannot positively vouch for the four eggs said to belong to this species which I have 
procured. The case stands thus : — On the 23rd April a Karen named Myat-jo, in my employ, 
brought me four roundish, white, very glossy eggs, and the dead body of a bird of this species, 
which on dissection proved to he a female evidently breeding. His story was that he had 
watched the bird go into a hole in the sandy hank of the Meplay stream, and dug it out, catching 
it alive seated on the four eggs he had brought me. As the place was not more than a mile or so 
from the place where I had pitched my camp, I went off at once with him to inspect the spot. 
Examination of the ruined nest and further questioning of Myat-jo elicited the following : — 
A tunnel had been dug by the birds into the soft bank to a depth of seven or eight feet, ending 
in a rounded chamber. The eggs reposed on the hare ground, there being no attempt at a nest. 
The bird pecked vigorously at Myat-jo’s hand, when from time to time he put it in to ascertain 
how much further he had to dig. The eggs were very hard-set, and I had much difficulty in 
cleaning them out; they measure— 1T3X1 ‘05, 1T6XF02, lT2xl'04, and 1-17 xF02. 
“ e Myat-jo being an aboriginal Karen, and belonging to a village to which missionaries have not 
yet penetrated, I myself have little doubt that the eggs are authentic. I have, moreover, never 
yet found him trying to impose on me.’ ” 
To this Mr. Hume appends the following remarks (Stray Feath. ix. p. 472) : — “ On the whole 
I am inclined to accept the eggs. There is no doubt that they are undistinguishable from the 
eggs of Halcyon smyrnensis ; but nevertheless there are several reasons for believing that they 
may belong to JV. athertoni. In the first place, I have never known Halcyon smyrnensis bore 
anything like so deep a tunnel. In the second place, the female specimen of N. athertoni said to 
have been caught on the eggs proves to be a female that had been recently laying. It had been 
caught and not shot ; and if he did not catch it in the hole, it is difficult to understand how the 
Karen could have got hold of it. In the third place, the eggs are precisely what the bird might 
have been expected to lay. 
" At the same time it must be admitted that we have hitherto had reason to suppose that this 
bird bred in holes in trees, and Captain Bingham himself once shot a breeding bird issuing from 
such a hole, and very few species of birds lay both in holes of trees and in holes in sandy banks.” 
The specimen figured is in my own collection. 
In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 
E Mns. H. E. Dresser. 
a, rt ad. Kaukarit, Tenasserim, 10th June, 1879 ((7. T. Bingham ). b, g . Thoungyeen valley, Tenasserim, 23rd 
August, 1879 ( C . T. Bingham). c, $ . Thoungyeen Forests, Tenasserim, 20th October, 1879 (C. T. 
Bingham ). d. Himalayas ( Gerrard ). 
E Mus. Tweeddale. 
a. Deyra Doon. b. N ynee-Tal ( Pinwill) . c. Burmah. d. Tonghoo. e, $ . Tonghoo, 3rd November, 1 871 ( Ward- 
law Ramsay). f,$ . Tonghoo, 10th November, 1875 (W. R.). g, $ . Tonghoo, 22nd October, 1874 ( W.R. ). 
h, i,j, k, l. Karin hills, September and October, 1874 {TV. R.). m, $ . Moulmein, October 1865. n. Assam, 
o, 8 ; P> 7 • Khasia hills, January 1876 ( Chennell ). 
