AVIS-IBIS - An Avian Information System - Indian BioDiversity Information System

119. :- Merops quinticolor, Vieillot. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 208; Butler, Deccan ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 382.

The Chesnut-headed Bee-eater.

Length, 8.5 ; wing, 4.3 ; tail, 3.25 ; bill at front, 1.3.

Bill black ; irides fine crimson-red ; legs and feet plumbeous.

Whole top of the head, nape, hind-neck, and upper part of back rich chesnut; wing-coverts, interscapulars, and tertiaries bight green, the latter tinged with blue; rump and upper tail-coverts pale azure-blue ; quills dull green, tending to rufous on the inner web, and black tipped; tail, with the centre feathers, blue on the outer web, all the rest dull green, tipped dusky; tail even, or slightly emarginate, with the centre feathers not elongated ; beneath, the chin, throat, and sides of the neck up to the ear-coverts, pale yellow, below which is a band or collar of ferruginous, edged with black; the breast bright green; abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts the same, tinged with blue; wings within rufous-brown.

The Chesnut-headed Bee-eater occurs sparingly on the Western Ghats and in the jungles adjoining.

Nouv. Did. d'Hist. Nat. xiv. p. 17; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 68. Merops quinticolor (V.), Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 208, No. 119. Merops Daudini (Cuv), Swinhoe, P.Z. S. 1871, p. 348. Merops Swinhoei, Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 102 ; id., Str. F. ii. p. 163; iii. p. 50; Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 305; Legge, Birds of Ceylon, p. 312 ; Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 455 ; viii. p. 85 ; Parker, Str. F. ix. p. 478. Merops erythrocephalus (Gm), Blyth and Wald., B. Burm. p. 274. -

The Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater.

Top of the head, ear coverts, nape and upper back, rich chestnut; lores black, extending as a band under the eye and ear coverts ; lower back, wing coverts, and tertiaries green, the latter tinged with bluish; rump and upper tail coverts pale azure or shining blue ; quills-green, rufous on the inner webs, and all tipped with dusky black; tail even or slightly emarginate, the centre feathers not elongated, bluish on the outer and green on the inner webs; rest green, margined with brown on the inner webs and all tipped with dusky; sides of the face, chin and throat yellow, followed by a collar of chestnut, edged with black, which extends up the sides of the neck; breast bright green; rest of lower plumage green, tinged with blue, which is most conspicuous on the vent and inner tail coverts. Bill black; irides crimson ; legs dusky black.

Length. - 8.5 inches; tail 3.3 to 3.5; wing 4.2; tarsus 0.4; bill from gape 17.

Hab. - Malabar forests; Neilgherries up to 5,500 feet elevation; Mysore, Wynaad, Southern India generally, to Ceylon. It is said to be found sparingly distributed throughout the whole province of Burmah, also in Siam, Cochin- China and China. Occurs in forests and well-wooded parts of the country in small flocks. Breeds during March and April on the slopes of the Neilgherries. They bore holes in the sandy parts of the banks to a depth of from 3 to 6 feet, at the bottom of which is a circular chamber about 6 inches in diameter, where without any nest or lining, they lay from 4 to 6 eggs, pure and glossy white, almost spherical, varying in length from 0.82 to 0.92 inch, and in breadth from 0.72 to 0.81 inch.

The European Bee-eater.

Merops apiaster, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 182 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 52; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 474; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 210; id. Ibis, 1872, p. 3 ; Murray, S. F, vii, p. 113; Hume, Cat. no. 121; Wardl.-Ramsay, Ibis, 1880, p. 49; Barnes, S. F. ix, pp. 215, 453 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 48; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 95; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 157 ; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 66; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 63.

Coloration. Forehead white, followed by an indistinct line of verditer-blue passing into green, that is continued on each side as a supercilium; a black line including the lores and ear-coverts and passing under the eye; crown, hind neck, and upper back chestnut, darkest on the head and passing into pale yellowish brown, weathering in worn plumage to buff on the lower back and rump, paler still on the scapulars; secondary-coverts and quills chestnut; primary-coverts and primary and tertiary quills bluish green, all quills except the tertiaries tipped black; upper tail-coverts bluish green; tail-feathers bronze-green above, the slightly elongate median pair tipped black, all blackish beneath; chin and throat rich yellow, followed by a black gorget; breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts greenish blue, paler behind; wing-lining buff.

Bill black ; iris red ; legs and feet brown.

Length about 10.5 ; tail 4 to 5, outer rectrices 3.5 ; wing 5.75 ; tarsus .55 ; bill from gape 1.7.

Distribution. A migratory bird, wintering in Africa, and perhaps in Southern Arabia, and breeding in summer in Southern Europe and Central Asia. Within Indian limits this Bee-eater breeds in Kashmir and probably in Afghanistan, and has been observed when migrating in the N.W. Punjab, Baluchistan, and on one occasion in Sind.

Habits, &c. Those of the genus. This and other large Bee-eaters keep more on the wing than M. viridis and feed on various' insects, chiefly bees and wasps. M. apiaster breeds in Kashmir during May and June, and lays 4 to 7 eggs (6 being a common number) in a chamber at the end of a deep hole. The eggs are white and glossy, and measure about 1.08 by .9.

The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater.

Merops erythrocephalus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, p. 463 (1788) (India, Ceylon). Melittophagus swinhoii. Blanf. & Oates, iii, p. 114.

Vernacular names. Kurumenne Kurulla, Poolc-7cira (Cing.).

Description. Lores, a narrow line on the forehead and a broad line under the eye and through the ear-coverts black; whole crown, hind-neck and back chestnut; interscapulars and scapulars bright dark green; rump, lower back and upper tail-coverts pale blue, the coverts darker and greener; tail green, the edges and tips of the lateral feathers tipped with blackish; primaries and outer secondaries tipped black, remainder of closed wing bright dark green; inner webs of quills rich rufous at the base, showing as a large patch below, concolorous with the axillaries and under wing-coverts; chin, throat and lower sides of neck pale yellow; a chestnut-brown gorget, bordered below with black, connected with the chestnut back; lower plumage pale green, divided from the black by an ill-defined yellow band and paler and more blue on the abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts.

Colours of soft parts. Iris crimson, dull pale brown in the young; bill black; legs and feet dark slaty to black.

Measurements. Wing 103 to 112 mm.; tail 71 to 83 mm.; tarsus 9 to 10 mm.; culmen 30 to 34 mm.

Young birds have the head concolorous with the lower back and the rufous of the back much mixed with green; the rufous and black collars are ill-defined.

Distribution. Ceylon, the West coast of India, North to Belgaum; Himalayan Terai from Dehra Dun to Eastern Assam; Eastern Bengal and Orissa (Godavery, Blanford), Burma, Andamans, Malay Peninsula and Indo-Chinese countries to Annam and Yunnan.

Nidification. The Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters breed in the Himalayan Terai and Assam in April and occasionally in May, making their tunnels either in the banks of the rivers running through a forest or digging them out in the almost level sand-flats. The tunnels are generally of considerable length, 4 to 6 feet, sometimes up to 10 feet, but when made in clay soil only a few inches. The chamber is about 8 by 6 inches, rather large in comparison with the size of the bird; there is no lining and hardly ever any debris of insect-remains; the diameter of the tunnel is barely 2 inches. When the first nests are flooded out, a not unusual occurrence, the birds desert the rivers and breed in banks of nullahs and ravines in forest and eggs may be taken from these nests up to the end of June. They do not breed in colonies,, though many pairs may be found breeding in suitable stretches of river about a hundred yards, or less, apart. They are close-sitters and at night both birds occupy the egg-chamber.

On the Malabar coast these Bee-eaters lay principally in February and March.

Two hundred eggs average 21.7 X 19.0mm.: maxima 23.4 x 20.1 mm.; minima 20.1 X 19.0 and 20.3 x 17.9 mm.

Habits. The Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters always feed in company and during the non-breeding season remain in flocks numbering anything from a dozen to a hundred individuals. Their food is captured entirely on the wing and their evolutions in the air are extremely beautiful, accompanied by a most musical trill, uttered every few minutes. They feed on any kind of insects and I have seen them taking food of some kind, probably mosquito eggs and larvae, from small stagnant pools left by a stream drying up. They are amongst the earliest bird risers and their pleasant notes may be heard almost with the first glimmer of light in the morning, especially if their roosting-place is one among the tall reeds on a river-bank.

Melittophagus erythrocephalus erythrocephalus Gmelin.

 

Merops erythrocephalus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. i, pt. i, p. 463, 1788: India = Ceylon.

Merops leschenaultii Vieill., Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., nouv, ed., vol. xiv, p. 17, 1817 : Java=India.

Merops quinticolor id., ibid., p. 21: Ceylon.

Merops urica Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, vol. xiii, pt. 1, May 1821: Java.

Merops swinhoei Hume, Nests & Eggs Ind. Birds, p. 102, 1873.