116 
Juv. supra pallidior, secuudariis et tectricibus alarum cseruleo marginatis : gula albida : macula oculari indistincta 
et flavido margiuata : torque jugulari nullo. 
Adult male (S. Andamans). — Crown, nape, and interscapulary region bright chestnut-red; 
wings and lower back parrot-green, the quills internally margined with rufous and tipped with 
blackish brown ; the elongated secondaries tipped with blue ; rump and upper tail-coverts light 
blue, central rectrices bluish on the outer and green on the inner webs, remaining tail-feathers 
green on the inner web, margined with reddish brown and tipped with blackish brown ; lores and 
a stripe passing beneath the eye black ; chin and throat rich yellow ; a black band crosses the 
throat, broadly bordered above with chestnut and below narrowly margined with golden yellow ; 
underparts bright apple-green, becoming bluish green on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; 
bill black ; legs purplish black ; iris scarlet. Total length about 7 '5 inches, culmen T4, wing 4-4, 
tail 3'5, tarsus 0 - 5. 
Young ( fide Legge). — The chestnut on the upper parts paler in tinge ; wing-coverts and 
secondaries margined with blue ; throat whitish, the black facial band ill-defined and margined 
below with yellowish ; no band across the throat, but the lower throat and chest greenish like the 
rest of the underparts. 
The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater inhabits Southern India, the Andamans, Ceylon, Tenasserim, 
Burmah, Siam, and Cochin China, and is also stated to have been met with in China, and it 
ranges down the Malay peninsula as far as Penang. Dr. Jerdon says (B. of India, i. p. 209) 
“ This very beautiful Bee-eater, which is the type of the division Urica, Bon., is only found in 
forest-country, and is most abundant in elevated districts. It is found in the Malabar forests and 
adjoining mountains. I have seen it on the Coonoor Ghat of the Neilglierries up to 5500 feet of 
elevation; and it is not uncommon in the YY’ynaad and other elevated wooded districts. I never 
saw it on the east coast, nor has it been sent from Central India. Blyth says that it is not found 
in Lower Bengal, and it is not likely to occur in the North-western Provinces. It extends, how- 
ever, to Arrakan, Tenasserim, and Malayana.” The portions of India whence I find it recorded 
are the west coast by Bingham, Dehra Doon by Dr. Jerdon, Chota Nagpur by Mr. Ball (who 
writes, Str. Death, ii. p. 386, that he met with a pair on the 15th March in the well-wooded hills 
near the village of Paharbulla in Sirguja), and from N.E. Cachar by Mr. Inglis, who states that 
it is common there during April and May, but disappears about the end of the latter month. 
Mr. Hume remarks that it was not observed in the Nicobars, but it is abundant on the Anda- 
man Islands ; and Mr. Davison says (‘ Stray Leathers, 5 ii. p. 163) that “ this species is very common 
in the immediate vicinity of Port Blair, but it is also found, though more sparingly, in the Great 
and Little Cocos, Strait Island, &c. It is a bird that seldom wanders very far from the forest, 
and although it is occasionally met with in some extensive clearing, yet it chiefiy frequents the 
roads, running through forest or well-wooded gardens. They breed at the Andamans, and I 
found them commencing to perforate the banks for their nests just before I left the Andamans in 
the middle of May.” It is by no means an uncommon species in Ceylon. Mr. Holdsworth writes 
(P. Z. S. 1872, p. 423) that “this is a hill-species, and a resident in Ceylon. I have shot it in 
August at the foot of the hills in the south, and I have frequently seen it on the lower bills in 
the neighbourhood of Kandy ; but it is nowhere so numerous as either M. viridis or M. philippinus, 
