Sixty-eight bright Be stars were observed in the R and I bands of the Johnson system. Nearly all of them lie above the main sequence in a (B - V,V- I) diagram, which is interpreted as a near-infrared excess (ΔI) in their energy distributions. From the computed difference with the standard main-sequence relation, a correlation of this ΔI value with the emission strength of the Hα line, previously defined as eα is found. On the other hand, the ultraviolet excesses derived from the Q values shows no evidence of correlation with the infrared excesses. But a correlation with polarimetric data appears reliable.