24 
Mr. G. L. Bates— Field-Notes on the 
do not in any way shew a preference for the neighbourhood of 
water. A man once caught for me a bird of the commonest 
species, H. badius , in a hole in a tree, where it was sitting 
on the two eggs. The young inside the eggs were already 
cheeping and of course the eggs had to be broken, but I 
managed to leave one of them nearly whole so that it could 
be measured ; its size was 26 x 24 mm. 
[One egg (in which incubation was evidently far advanced) 
is of a perfectly circular shape, somewhat glossy and pure 
white.—O.-G.] 
867 a. Melittophagus gularis australis. 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 431. 
No. 2904. ? . Breeding-organs and skin of abdomen 
indicating a sitting bird. Caught in its hole in a bank, in 
which were found also two eggs. One was broken, the 
other measured 24 x 20 mm. 
[The one egg is of a short oval form, somewhat glossy 
and pure white.—O.-G.] 
868. Melittophagus muelleri. 
Merops batesiana Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 432. 
In habits this species resembles Melittophagus australis , 
for both of them are generally seen in pairs, never in flocks, 
and I have strong reason to believe that the present species, 
like M. australis, breeds in holes in banks, a single pair in a 
place. Thus they differ in habits from those species of the 
genus Merops which are gregarious. 
The young birds are mostly black, the brighter colours 
of the adults appearing but slightly. The females differ 
from the males only in the blue of the hind-neck being less 
extensive. 
872. Merops albicollis. [Nso'olong.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 611. 
Aerops albicollis Reich. Y. A. ii. p. 317. 
This bird is surely a Merops in its way of life. When 1 
wrote my first note about it (‘Ibis/ 1905, p. 91) 1 knew it 
mostly near the coast, where it is not so abundant as it is 
on the Ja. But even at the latter place, as also nearer the 
