57 
This, one of the commonest of the Asiatic Bee-eaters, is found throughout the whole peninsula of 
India, ranging south to Ceylon and the Andaman Islands ; it also inhabits Burmah, Siam, Cochin 
China, China, the Malay peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippine Islands. 
According to Dr. Jerdon (l. c.), it is “ spread more or less over all India and Burmah, 
extending to Ceylon in the south, and to the Malay peninsula and islands in the east. It prefers 
forest-countries and well-wooded districts, and, though generally spread, is yet somewhat locally 
distributed, and you may pass over considerable tracts of country without meeting one. The 
Malabar coast is always a favourite haunt, and this Bee-eater appears to prefer the neighbourhood 
of water. It is sometimes found in the Wynaad and other elevated regions of Malabar, but in 
general prefers a low level.” In North-west India it is found as far as Sindh, and Mr. Scrope- 
Doig met with it in the Narra district, where he believes it breeds ; but west of Sindh it seems 
to be entirely replaced by Merops persicus. Mr. A. 0. Hume received it from the Mount Aboo 
district, where Dr. King also obtained it. It is found very generally throughout Central and 
Eastern India during the cool season. Col. Irby met with it in Oudh and Kumaon in the hot 
season, but not in any numbers. Mr. Ball records it from Lohadugga, Sirguja, Sambalpur, &c., 
from the Ganges to the Godavery, in Jaipur and Baipur, but he adds that it is very rare in Chota 
Nagpur, where he never observed it, however, before the hot weather. Dr. Eairbank, who procured 
it in the Palani Hills, writes (Str. Eeath. v. p. 391) that it “ was common in 1866 on the eastern 
side of the Palani Hills at 2000 or 3000 feet; but this year I only saw it once, and the one I shot, 
falling among high grass, was not recovered, though I carefully marked the spot where it fell.” 
There are numerous records of its occurrence in various parts of India down to the southern part 
of the peninsula, too numerous to cite in detail. I may, however, remark that, according to Blyth, 
it occurs in Lower Bengal chiefly or only during the rainy season. Mr. Cripps says (Str. Eeath. 
vii. p. 158) that it is “ far from rare at Eurreedpore, Eastern Bengal, where they appear in 
Eebruary, breed in holes in banks in July and August, after which they disappear. They frequent 
river-banks and ‘ beels : ’ in the latter they perch on the sticks and bamboos which the fishermen 
put down for drying their nets on. They have a much louder note than Merops viridis, and are 
rather shy.” Col. Legge writes (l. c .) that it is “ migratory to Ceylon, arrives in the north of the 
island about the beginning of September, and rapidly spreads more or less through all parts of it 
before the end of the month. It seems to find its way to the south-west corner, or Galle district, 
almost as soon as to any part of the island, and collects there in greater numbers than elsewhere 
on the western side. I have met with it in the interior of the country, between Galle and 
Akurresse, as early as the 8th of September. It locates itself in great numbers in the Jaffna 
peninsula, and on the north-west coast as far south as Puttalam, and spreads in tolerable 
numbers into the interior, passing over the forest-clad portions, however, to a great extent, 
and ascending to the patnas and open hills of the Kandyan Province. In Hva and Pusselawa, 
and on the Agra, Iindula, and Bopatalawa patnas, at an elevation of 5000 feet, it is 
common; but I have never seen it on the ‘plains’ of the Nuwara-Elliya plateau. In the 
Eastern Province it confines itself mostly to the sea-board, being less numerous in the Park 
country and the south-eastern ‘jungle-plain ’ than the next resident species ( Merops viridis). 
Its departure from the island is as sudden as it is regular, in proof of which I may state that at 
Galle, in two successive seasons, I observed it collect in large flocks between the 29th and 31st 
March, and disappear entirely on the 1st April. Mr. Holdsworth, who writes that at Aripu it 
was so abundant that the common resident species ( Merops viridis) was scarce in comparison 
with it, states that it left about the beginning of April ; and by the end of that month, I believe, 
I 
