For many years only one specimen of this unusual bee-eater was known in Europe, at Leyden Museum, Holland. It was collected in 1840 in northern Celebes by the Director of the Natural History Museum in Batavia, Dr. E.A. Forsten (1811-1843) and named after Forsten by Professor H. Schlegel. About thirty years later, Dr. A.B. Meyer (1840-1911) rediscovered the species and additional specimens were added to European collections.
Dr. Meyer wrote that in the wild 'the bird keeps in dark, hardly accessible woods, perches on the highest trees... It is by no means rare, but difficult to find, owing to its retreating into the thick wood.'
The Bee-eater is depicted lifesize.
A.B. Meyer, Journal fur Ornithologie, 1871, p.231
DISTRIBUTION: Northern, north-central, central and southeastern Celebes