38 
latter and then tunnelled off at right angles, and slightly downwards, for at least 3 feet, along the 
face of the rock. The egg-chamher contained one solitary hard-set egg ! The usual number of 
eggs is four, hut I have often taken five; they are globular and glossy white in shape and colour. 
Both sexes, I believe, engage in the work of incubation.” 
Mr. It. ~W. Morgan wrote to me that in Southern India he “ found this bird breeding on the 
banks of rivers and ghaut-roads, digging a neat tunnel from three to seven feet in depth, with a 
globular chamber at the end. The eggs vary from three to six in number, and are deposited on 
the earth, there being no attempt at a nest.” I am indebted to Mr. Morgan for a series of eggs 
of this Bee-eater, which are pure white in colour, glossy in texture, rather round in form, and in 
size average about by inch. 
The Little Green Bee-eater is subject to considerable variation in coloration of plumage ; 
hut after a careful examination of a very large series of specimens I cannot find any valid reason 
for separating any one of these forms and raising it to specific rank, though at the first glance one 
would be inclined to consider the extreme form which inhabits Ceylon separable from the Egyptian 
bird. This latter has the crown sometimes plain green and sometimes tinged with a rufescent 
golden hue ; but the throat is, as a rule, green with a blue streak on each side, though in some 
specimens I have observed a trace of verditer-blue on the centre of the throat, whereas the form 
inhabiting Burmah has the head and nape very rufous, but the throat is as in the Egyptian bird. 
Specimens from Southern India and Ceylon, on the other hand, have the throat verditer-blue, more 
or less intermixed with green, and the crown and nape tinged with rufous. In the British 
Museum there is a large series of specimens from various localities, which differ as follows : — Those 
from Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia differ scarcely at all inter se, and have the throat green and 
the head but slightly tinged with rufescent golden. One from Khist, north-east of Bushire, and 
one from Gwadar, in Baluchistan, have the throat marked with verditer-blue, but not very 
distinctly, and the head coloured as in Egyptian examples. Two from Madras and one from 
Lahore have the head rather rufous, that from Lahore being more marked with this colour ; but 
in one there is scarcely any trace of blue on the throat and none in the other two. One from 
Darjeeling has the crown as in Egyptian specimens, but the throat and underparts are washed 
with greenish blue; and one from Nepal has the crown tinged with rufous and the throat and 
underparts more blue than in any other specimen I have examined. Four from Kamptee have 
the head slightly tinged with rufous, but vary much in the amount of blue on the throat. 
Lastly, two specimens from Burmah have the head and nape very rufous ; but the throat is 
coloured as in Egyptian specimens, being green with a blue streak on each side. 
In the Tweeddale collection there is a very rich series of these Bee-eaters, and on examining 
them, I find one from Assam and two from Alimednuggur precisely similar to and undistinguish- 
able from Egyptian examples, whereas three from Rangoon, one from Tonghoo, and one from 
Central India are like Egyptian specimens, but have the head rather more strongly marked with 
rufous ; a large series from various parts of India (three from Ahmednuggur), Tonghoo, the Karen 
hills, Moulmein, and Rangoon have blue on the throat, and have the crown and nape rufous, 
varying much in intensity of colour. In some the blue tinge on the throat is very slight, whereas 
in others it is nearly as deep as in Ceylonese specimens. In a series from India (Candeish, 
Maunbhoom, Deyra Boon, Ahmednuggur), Tonghoo, and Ceylon, the throat is verditer-blue, 
more or less mixed with green, some having the head very rufous, whereas others have it coloured 
as in Egyptian examples. 
Speaking of Ceylonese specimens, Col. Legge writes (B. of Ceylon, i. p. 309) that they “ vary 
