24 
Young (Lampong).— Crown, nape, and back deep green, not brown ; upper throat dull blue, 
slightly tinged with green ; lower abdomen white, tinged with blue ; central tail-feathers not 
elongated ; rest of the plumage as in the adult, but duller. 
Obs. A specimen in the Tweeddale collection which appears to me to be in change from the 
immature to the fully adult dress has the chestnut-brown intermixed with dark green, the green 
on the wings marked with deep blue, and the green underparts blotched with blue ; the central 
rectrices are elongated, but much abraded, as, indeed, is much of the rest of the plumage. 
Nestling (Labuan). — Resembles the young bird aboye described, but has the throat of a 
much deeper blue colour, without any trace of green, and is, indeed, much more deeply coloured 
than the immature example figured and above described. This nestling bird, for which I am 
indebted to Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe of the British Museum, was received too late to be figured, 
which is the more to be regretted as it is a most characteristic specimen, showing, as it does, 
the blue on the throat so much developed in the nestling plumage. 
This Bee-eater has been so generally confused with Merops bicolor that it is rather difficult to 
define its range; but, so far as I can judge, it inhabits China, Cochin China, Siam, the southern 
Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and probably also Java. 
In the Paris Museum there is a specimen, which is clearly referable to this species, which 
was obtained by P6re Heude at Kiangsi, in China, in June 1872, and which is marked as being 
the type of Merops rochechouardi of Heude. M. Tiraut states (l. c.) that he killed one atTra-vinh 
in Cochin China, which country it is said to inhabit generally, but it does not appear to be 
common there. Mr. Hume (Str. Feath. viii. p. 48) records it as occurring at Malacca, Pulo 
Seban, Kurroo, Chohong, and Singapore; and Lieut. Kelham (l. c .) met with it on the banks of 
the Perak river, and also at Malacca and Singapore. I have examined specimens from Malacca, 
Sumatra, and Borneo, and can fully indorse the statement by Lord Tweeddale that examples 
from these localities do not differ. Governor IT ssher obtained it at Lumbidan in Borneo ; and 
Mr. Everett speaks of it (Ibis, 1877, p. 5) as being a common bird in that island. On the strength 
of a specimen in the Paris Museum which is said to have been obtained in Java, it is recorded as 
found in that island : Lord Tweeddale, however, doubts its occurrence there ; but it appears to me 
that there is every probability that it does inhabit that island. 
In the Philippine Islands it is replaced by its near ally Merops bicolor, and, with one excep- 
tion, I can find no instance of the occurrence of Merops sumatranus in that group of islands. 
When examining the Bee-eaters in the Paris Museum, I found one specimen labelled as having 
been obtained by MM. Hombron and Jacquinot at Jolajola, in the island of Liu;,on, which is 
undoubtedly referable to M. sumatranus and not to M. bicolor. This is the more puzzling, 
because all the other specimens I have seen from the Philippines are referable to Merops bicolor, 
and all the information I have gathered (with this one exception) tends to show that M. bicolor 
alone is found there ; thus I cannot help suspecting that there is a mistake as regards the locality 
where this specimen was really procured. 
Writing on the habits of this bird as observed by him in Borneo, Mr. Mottley says that 
“ these birds come to Labuan to breed, which they do in deep holes dug in the sand ; they 
