MEROPS VIRIDIS, Linn.
Hurrial Bee-eater.

Merops viridis, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 182.—Lath. Ind. Orn., tom. i. p. 269.—Vieill. Ency. Méth. Orn., part 1.

p. 273. pl. 105. fig. 3.—Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 53.—Sykes, in Proc. of
Comm. of Sci. and Corr. of Zool. Soc., part ii. p. 82.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p- 86;
Merops, sp. 10.—Ib. Cat. of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., part ii. sec. 1. p. 69.—Gray, Cat. of Spec. and
Draw. of Mamm. and Birds presented to Brit. Mus. by B. H. Hodgson, Esq,, p. 58.—Bonap. Consp.
Gen. Av., p. 162, Merops, sp. 11.—Horsf. Cat. of Birds in Mus. East Ind. Comp., vol. i. p. 84.—
Layard, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xii. 2nd ser. p: 173.
Apiaster Madagascariensis torquatus, Briss. Orn., tom. iv. p. 049 ph du, fio, 2
Philippensis minor, Briss. Orn., tom. iv. p. 555. pl, xini, fig. 2°
Guépier a collier de Madagascar, Buff. Pl. Enl. 740.
Guépier a gorge bleue, Buff. Hist. Nat. des Ois., tom. vi. p. 497.
The Indian Bee-eater, Edw. Nat. Hist. of Birds, part. iv. p. and pl. 183.
Indian Bee-eater, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 672.—Penn. Gen. of Birds, pp. 16, 62. pl. vii.—Shaw, Gen.
Zool., vol. viii. p. 156.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. py Le:
_ Merops Lamarcki, Cuv. Régn. Anim. 1829, tom. i. p. 442.
——— Orientals, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. pe 1384
——— Coromandus, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 135.
——— Andicus, Jerd. Journ. of Lit. and Sci., vol. xi. p. 227.—Blyth, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xii. p. 93.
——— torquatus, Hodgs., Gray, Zool. Misc. 1844, py 82.
—-_. ferrugineiceps, Ib. p. 82.
Le Guépier a gorge bleue, ou Le Guépier Lamarck, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Guép., t. 10.
Le Guépier jaune, de la céte de Coromandel, Sonn. Voy., ii. p. 213. pl. 119 ?
Hurrial and Putringa, Hindoos, Jerdon.
Bans-puttur (“ Bamboo-leaf”’), Hindoos, Blyth, Dr. F. B. Hamilton.
Monagyee, Aracans, Blyth.
Putinga, Capt. Boys.

 

Tuts species of Bee-eater enjoys a far wider range of habitat than any other member of the family with
which I am acquainted. I have at this moment before me specimens from nearly every part of the Peninsula
of India, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, and others from the island of Ceylon; the Zoological Society
of London possesses a specimen from the Mauritius, which so closely accords with those from India, that I
cannot consider it to be different ; Dr. Rtippell includes it in his ‘ List of the Birds of North-Eastern Africa,’
and, as will be seen in the synonyms given above, Buffon figures it as a bird of Madagascar, from which
country, however, I have not myself as yet seen an example. Specimens from all these countries closely agree
in size and in their general admeasurements, but those from very distant localities offer some slight differences
in the colouring of their plumage : for instance, specimens from Nepaul have the crown of the head and the
back of the neck more strongly washed with reddish-brown than others from the more southern parts of the
Continent ; in like manner, specimens from Egypt accord with Indian ones in size, but have the filamentous
portion of the central tail-feathers longer, and no trace of the blue on the throat,—that part being of the
same rich golden-green as the head, a hue which also pervades the upper part of the tail.

Although so generally dispersed over India, the bird seems to be subject to the law of migration, or at
least, to a change of residence, according as circumstances may be favourable to the production of the
requisite supply of food; hence in Scinde, during the hot months of summer, when the vegetation is parched
up and insect life all but absent, the bird is not to be found in that country. In a note on Scindian birds
addressed to me by my son, Dr. Gould, dated Ghiznee, October 1854, he says, ‘The monsoon being now
over, birds are beginning to return, and Bee-eaters, Shrikes, Hoopoes, Stone-cliats, Wheat-ears, Willow-
wrens, and many other species are now appearing amongst the rocks, where a —_ since nothing but a lark
was to be seen; and Terns, which could only be found at sea, now come wandering over the land and hunting
up and down in search of dragon-flies and other insects, which are now mumaenoue.! ! :

“This bird,” says Mr. Blyth, ‘‘is extremely common, but disappears in the rainy a It breeds .
the neighbourhood of Calcutta, as I have had specimens brought me o eggs ready to lay, = the month of
March. The general habits of this bird are those of a Fly-catcher, but it frequently hawks for insects on the
wing, many together, like swallows.”

Mr. Jerdon states, that “This well-known and common bird is spread in numbers over all India. It