4 
Adult female (Malacca).— Resembles the male, but is smaller, and differs in having the 
forehead and lores of the same colour as the throat, the mauve-pink on the forehead being restricted 
to a somewhat narrow band ; the red on the breast is also narrower. 
Young (Lampong, Sumatra).— Differs from the adult in having the crown and throat green 
instead of red, and the iris greyish brown. 
According to Davisou, the adult bird has the legs and feet pale green, often dingy, sometimes 
bluish ; bill black, wliity brown at base from nostril to gape of upper mandible, and lower 
mandible from about angle of genys to base ; irides bright yellow to orange-vellow ; eyelids dark 
plumbeous green. 
Obs. In very old birds the outer webs of most of the quills are edged with bluish green, 
and in one specimen from Malacca this is the case to a very perceptible degree ; but in other 
examples from Malacca and Sumatra, where it occurs, it is developed only to a slight extent. 
The sexes do not differ in coloration, except as above stated, but the female is somewhat smaller 
than the male. 
The range of the present species, one of the largest as well as one of the most richly coloured of 
the Bee-eaters, extends from British Burmah down the Malay peninsula to Sumatra and Borneo ; 
but it does not occur in India, being there replaced by its congener Nyctiornis athertoni. 
Capt. Bingham met with it near Moulmein, and remarks that whereas he elsewhere only met with 
it in pairs, he there observed a small flock. In Tenasserim, he informs me, it is a rare bird in 
such of the forests as he visited. He first procured it at Kya-en on the Zammee river, about 16° 
N. lat. He also (‘ Stray Feathers,’ ix. p. 153) “ shot a male on the 19th November, 1879, in the 
Thoungyeen valley, near the banks of the Thingangyeenoun choung, a feeder of the Meplay.” 
On the Malay peninsula it appears to be generally distributed, and collections from 
Malacca usually contain examples of this beautiful bird. Lieut. Ivelham obtained two alive, at 
Kwala Kangsar, Perak, on the 28th of Pebruary ; and he adds that he does not believe it to be a 
common bird. I have examined many examples from Sumatra, where, apparently, it is by no 
means rare ; and in Borneo it is said to be tolerably common in some localities. Mr. Treacher 
obtained it on the Lawas river ; and Mr. Mottley (P. Z. S. 1863, p. 214) says that it is “ rather com- 
mon at Gunong Tabok, on the Riam Kanan river, but I suppose rare elsewhere. My hunter says 
that it is not known far in the interior.” The immature bird, lacking the pink frontal patch and 
the red throat, has been described from Malacca as a distinct species under the name of Nyctiornis 
malaccensis ; but a specimen in this plain green dress has a single pink feather on the forehead, 
showing that it is a young bird commencing to assume the adult plumage ; and I can fully 
indorse the opinion expressed by Count Salvadori and the late Lord Tweeddale, that the Malaccan 
bird does not in any respect differ from the species found in Tenasserim, Burmah, and Borneo. 
In measurement examples from Malacca vary as follows — wing 4’7 to 5T5, tail 4 - 5 to 5'0 ; 
from Sumatra — wing 4 - 85 to 5T5, tail 4- 7 to 5T0 ; and a female from Sarawak measures — wing 
4-7, tail 4’7. 
This richly coloured bird is said to inhabit the forests, but to avoid the denser portions, 
frequenting those parts where the large trees are somewhat scattered and where the sunlight 
