Young (Lampong).—Crown, nape, and back deep green, not brown ; upper throat dull blue,
slightly tinged with green; lower abdomen white, tinged with blue; central tail-feathers not
elongated; rest of the plumage as in the adult, but duller.
Obs. A specimen in the TVecddale collection which appears to me to be in change from the
immature to t h e fully adult dress has the chestnut-brown intermixed with dark green, the green
on the wings marked with deep blue, and the green undcrparts blotched with blue; the central
rectriccs are elongated, hut much abraded, as, indeed, is much of the rest of the pluniago.
Neatling (I^ahuan).—Resembles the young bird above described, but has t he throat of a
much deeper blue colour, without any trace of green, and is, indeed, much more deeply coloured
than the immature example figured and above described. This nestling bird, for which I am
indebted to Mr. It. Bowdler Sharpe of the British Museum, was received too late to be figured,
which is the more to be regretted as it is a most characteristic specimen, showing, as it docs,
the blue on the throat so much developed in the nestling plumage.
THIS Bec-eater has been so generally confused with Merops bicolor that it is rather difficult to
define its range; but, so far as I can judge, it inhabits China, Cochin China, Siam, t h e southern
Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and probably also Java.
In the Paris Museum there is a specimen, which is clearly referable to this species, which
was obtained by Perc Heude at Kiangsi, in China, in June 1872, and which is marked as being
the type of Merops rochechouardi of Heude. M. Tiraut states (I. c.) that he killed one atTra-vinh
in Cochin China, which country it is said to inhabit generally, but it does not appear to be
common there. Mr. Hume (Str. Fcath. viii. p. 48) records it as occurring at Malacca, Pulo
Seban, Kurroo, Chohong, and Singapore; and Lieut. Kelham (I. c.) met with it on the banks of
the Perak river, and also a t Malacca and Singapore. I have examined specimens from Malacca,
Sumatra, and Borneo, and can fully indorse the statement by Lord Tweeddalc that examples
from these localities do not differ. Governor TJssher obtained it at Lumbidan in Borneo; and
Mr. Everett speaks of it (Ibis, 1877, p. 5) as being a common bird in that island. On the strength
of a specimen in the Paris Museum which is said to have been obtained in Java, it is recorded as
found in that island: Lord Tweeddalc, however, doubts its occurrence there; but it appears to me
that there is every probability that it does inhabit that island.
In the Philippine Islands it is replaced by its near ally Merops bicolor, and, with one exception,
I can find no instance of the occurrence of 3reropa aumalranus in that group of islands.
When examining the Bec-eaters in the Paris Museum, I found one specimen labelled as having
been obtained by MM. Hombron and Jacquinot at .lolajola, in the island of Lucon, which is
undoubtedly referable to M. sitmatramts and not to M. bicolor. This is the more puzzling,
because all the other specimens I have seen from the Philippines are referable to Merops bicolor,
and all the information I have gathered (with this one exception) tends to show that M. bicolor
alone is found there; thus I cannot help suspecting that there is a mistake as regards the locality
where this specimen was really procured.
Writing on the habits of this bird as observed by him in Borneo, Mr. Mottley says that
"these birds come to Labuan to breed, which they do in deep holes dug in the sand; they
all leave when the rains begin. They principally haunt those places where there is a small open
grassy spot on the sea-shore, associating in flocks of ten or twelve, and are extremely shy and difficult
to approach; they sail in circles with the flight of a small hawk, sometimes at a great height, and
sometimes close to the grass ; when they perch, which is not often, they usually select a bare twig.
I kept a young one alive for some time, and fed him on cockroaches and grasshoppers, and he
became exceedingly tame ; he was, however, at last killed by eating a large spider, which evidently
poisoned him." Mr. Mottley adds that he found it uncommon in Borneo. Mr. Everett, however,
says (Ibis, 1877, p. 5) that in Borneo it is " a n abundant species,but confined to the sandy traetson
the shore-line, though a pair will be met with now and again as far as 20 miles inland, where a sandy
bank happens to ofler facilities for nidiiication . . . . The flight of these birds is strong, and combines
the swift skimming of the Swallow with the airy hovering of the Falcon. Now they will
flutter up just as a Skylark does, and then swoop earthwards like a Hawk after its quarry, and then
again will rise and float almost without motion, merely balancing themselves in the breeze by a slight
qiuvering of the pinions. When at rest they commonly perch on the topmost twigs of the lower
Casuarina trees. The gizzard always contains insects—beetles, dragon-flics, and orthoptera, as well
as wasps and bees."
Respecting the nidiiication of this Bec-eater I find nothing on record; but it doubtless, like
its congeners, makes its nest in a hole tunnelled in a bank, and deposits white eggs.
The specimens figured arc the adult and young birds above described, the former of which
is in my own collection, and the latter in the Twceddale collection.
In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens :—
E Mas. H. E. Dresser.
n.rfad. Qualla Kangsa, Perak, 25th February, 1877 {Lieut. Kelham). b. Qualla Kangsa, 20th June, 1877
(Kelham).
E Mua. Ticeeddale.
a , f i , a d . ; c, j u v . ; d, juv. Malacca (Wardtaw Ramsay), e, ad. N.E. Borneo. f,g,h,i. Lampong, S.E. Sumatra.
*, J . Sumatra, 16th September, 1878 (Bock). I, juv. Sumatra (Bock), m, juv. Lampong.
E Mas. Paris.
a, ? . Kiangsi, June 1872 (type of M. rochechouardi). b. Java (Diard). c. Sumatra (Duvauxl): type of M. cyano.
pyg'ius, Less, d, juv. Sumatra (Duvaucel).
E Mua. Brit.
a, b. Malacca {Evans), c. Penaug, April 1854 (Dr. Cantor), d. Sumatra, 1861 (Wallace), e. Sumatra (Gould
coll.). f,g. Labuan (Low), h, ? . Sarawak, 21st May, 1870 (Everett), t. Borneo (Mottley).
B