Adult female (Malacca).—Resembles the male, but is smaller, and differs in having the
forehead and lores of t h e same colour as t h e throat, the mauve-pink on the forehead being restricted
to a somewhat narrow band ; t h e red on t h e breast is also narrower.
Young (Lampong, Sumatra).—Differs from the adult in having the crown and throat green
instead of red, and t h e iris greyish brown.
According t o Davison, the adult bird has the legs and feet pale green, often dingy, sometimes
bluish; bill black, whity brown at base from nostril to gape of upper mandible, and lower
mandible from about angle of genys to base ; irides bright yellow to orange-yellow ; eyelids dark
plumbeous green.
Obs. In very old birds the outer webs of most of the quills are edged with bluish green,
and in one specimen from Malacca this is t h e case t o a very perceptible degree ; but in other
examples from Malacca and Sumatra, where it occurs, it is developed only to a slight extent.
The sexes do not differ in coloration, except as above stated, but the female is somewhat smaller
than the male.
THE range of the present species, one of the largest as well as one of the most richly coloured of
the Bee-eaters, extends from British Burmah down the Malay peninsula to Sumatra and Borneo ;
but it does not occur in India, being there replaced by its congener Xgctiomis athertoni.
Capt. Bingham met witli it near Moulmein, and remarks that whereas he elsewhere only met with
it in pairs, he there observed a small flock. In Tenasserim, he informs me, it is a rare bird in
such of the forests as he visited. He first procured it at Kya-en on t h e Zammee river, about 16°
N. lat. He also (' Stray Feathers,' ix. p. 153) " shot a male on the 19th November, 1879, in the
Thoungyeen valley, near t h e banks of t h e Thingangyecnoun choung, a feeder of t h e Meplay."
On the Malay peninsula it appears to be generally distributed, and collections from
Malacca usually contain examples of this beautiful bird. Lieut. Kelham obtained two alive, at
Kwala Kangsar, Perak, on t h e 28th of February; and he adds that he does not believe it to be a
common bird. I have examined many examples from Sumatra, where, apparently, it is by no
means r a r e ; and in Borneo it is said to be tolerably common in some localities. Mr. Treacher
obtained it on the Lawas river ; and Mr. Mottley (P. Z. S. 1803, p . 214) says that it is " rather common
at Gunong Tabok, on the Riam Kanan river, but I suppose rare elsewhere. My hunter says
that it is not known far in the interior." The immature bird, lacking the pink frontal patch and
t h e r ed throat, has been described from Malacca as a distinct spceies under the name of Xyctiomis
malaccensis; but a specimen in this plain green dress lias a single pink feather on the forehead,
showing that it is a young bird commencing to assume the adult plumage; and I can fully
indorse the opinion expressed by Count Salvadori and the late Lord Tweeddale, t h a t the Malaccan
bird does not in any respect differ from the species found in Tenasserim, Burmah, and Borneo.
I n measurement examples from Malacca vary as follows—wing 4-7 to 5*15, tail 4-5 to 5'0;
from Sumatra—wing 4 8 5 to 5'15, tail 4*7 to 5*10 ; and a female from Sarawak measures—wing
4-7, tail 1-7.
This richly coloured bird is said to inhabit the forests, but to avoid the denser portions,
frequenting those parts where the large trees are somewhat scattered and where the sunlight
can penetrate, and its favourite haunts arc the banks of large streams and borders of swamps
surrounded by forest. It is, unlike most of the Bee-eaters, said to he solitary in its habits, being
seldom seen in flocks, and is not shy, but stupid, and confiding rather than timorous. Capt.
Bingham informs me that he met with it in Tenasserim, where it affected the denser forests, and
was solitary in its habits, being usually seen in pairs. It is, he adds, " a very silent bird, and once
only have I heard its note, which is a deep croak ending in a guttural k-r-r-r. This was on the
Kaukarit and Meeawuddy road, when a pair came and sat on a branch of a tree not ten feet
above my head. One of them, the male as it proved to be, when I had shot it, several times
uttered its croak, bobbing its head at each utterance and swelling out its pectoral plumes. It
is a stupid bird, not easily frightened, as I found in the above case when I shot the male first
with one barrel, and the female afterwards with the second, though they were seated scarcely
three feet apart." Mr. Mottley says (I.e.) that " its note is something between the croak of a
frog and the ' churr ' of a Fern-Owl, often repeated and sustained perhaps half a minute."
Lieut. Kelham obtained two alive and put them into his aviary, where at first they did well,
feeding on plantains and hopping about most cheerfully, every now and again flirting up their
long tails after the manner of Coi>sijchus mus'tcus ; but after a few days they sickened and died.
These birds have, he adds, a peculiar and most aromatic smell about them.
Mr. W. Davison states (' Stray Feathers,' vi. p. 09) that the most northern point in Tenasserim
where he saw and obtained this bird in the plains was at a village four days' march south of Yea,
about 14" 30' N. lat., and adds that from this point it gets less uncommon as one goes south.
I n the hills, however, it extends further north, and on the slopes of Mooleyit ho got it in nearly
17° N. lat. " This species," he writes, " less often occurs away from the forest than Xyctiomis
athertoni; but. although keeping, as a rule, to the woods, it avoids the denser portions, frequenting
those parts where the larger trees are somewhat scattered, and where plenty of sunlight penetrates ;
favourite places arc the banks of large streams and the borders of swamps and shallow lagoons
surrounded by forest.
"The note of this bird is somewhat similar to that of Xyctiornis athertoni, and is a hoarse
quo-qud-qnd-qud, uttered at. irregular intervals. "When one calls it is usually answered by its
mate, the birds being generally found in pairs, seldom singly, and never, that I know of, in
parties. When uttering its note the bird leans forward, stretches out its neck, and puffs out the
feathers of its throat, and at each syllable of its note bobs its head up and down.
" I t breeds, I should say, about March and April, as on the 20th of March I shot a female,
out of which I took an egg that was fully formed, but still quite soft; but I was unable to find
the nest.
" I have not noticed that either tins bird or Xyctiornis athertoni were crepuscular. Occasionally
on a clear moonlight evening, about seven or eight o'clock, I have heard their note; but
there arc numbers of birds that of a bright evening, or if they have been in any way disturbed,
wiU call. Like the true Bee-eaters it lives entirely on insects, which it takes on the wing."
So far as I can ascertain, nothing definite is known respecting the breeding-habits of this bird.
Capt. Bingham believes that it breeds in holes in the ground, like the other Bee-eaters, and about
the end of April or the beginning of May ; for the pair he shot on the 28th of April showed on
dissection that they were breeding. I think, however, that they will be found to breed in hollow
trees, and, in all probability, the eggs are pure white. Mr. Everett writes (' Ibis,' 1877, p. 0)
that " a nest containing two eggs was brought me at Belidah in January. The eggs wero
rather small in comparison with the size of the bird, nearly equal at both ends, and spotted with