98 Fairy Blue -Birds. 



" legs make them unadapted for hopping on the ground, and 

 " if they flew down for mealworms, they never remained there 

 "longer than was necessary. — Hubert. D. Astley." 



The Sumatean Fairy Blue Bird. (I c>^inif/pr). ■ 

 Adult Male: Top of head, entire upper surface, scanulais, 

 lesser and median wing -coverts, upper and under tail -coverts rich 

 cobalt-hlue, very bright and pure on the top cf the head; wings 

 (with above exceptions), tail, sides of face, sides of neck and entire 

 under sui'face black, greater wing'-ooverts tipped with cobalt, 

 secondaries, and central tail feathers wa.shed with blue; bill and 

 legs black; iris deep red. Total length 9^ inches, tail 3,^-. (The 

 upper tail coverts extend nearly and the under coverts right to the 

 tip of tail). 



Adult Female: Very similar to 9 turro.'a — dull blue, mottled 

 with dusky and brown ; slight'y smaller than the male. Total 

 lengtl' 9 inches, tail 3^. 



The Fairy Blue Bird (I. puella). 

 Some weeks ago, when I got rough pulls of the 

 charming coloured p'ate accompanying the^e notes, I wrote our 

 member, Mr. Hugh Whistler, asking if he could tell me any- 

 thing about the wild life of the Fairy Blue Bird and he very 

 kindly sent one the following letter: 



" I am much obliged to you for your letf^er and the plate 

 "of Irena furcofa. I regret that I can tell you nothing about 

 " Jrena in a wild state, as it does not occur within 500 miles or S'O' 

 "of my province — the Punjab; however as T have observed that 

 "you do not appear to use 'The Fauna of British India: Birds,* 

 " by Blanford and Gates, I am extracting ce-tain facts from it 

 "in ca,se they may contain a detail or two unknown to you. 



" I am only referring to /. p-ueUa, as turcom does not 

 " occur in India. 



" The distribution of the species I have indicated on the 

 ''^ enclosed ropgh sketch map. By way of parenthesis I may 

 "note here that so many well-know^n birds that are reg'arded as 

 '■ typically Indian do not occiii' in the Punjab, which, as far as my 

 "observations extend, tends to be Western Pal<Tarctic rather than 

 "tropical in its avifauna. It is very largely affected by the 

 "extensive migrations which occur over the N.W. corner of the 

 "'Himalayas, migrations which may advantageously be studied in 

 " Capt. Whitehead's ' Birds of Kohat and the Kurram Valley,' 

 "'Ibis,' 1909). 



"Gates makes the following observations on the plumage 

 "changes of Irena and I (suggest you ask avicultui-ists to confirm 

 '■ them if possible by actual observation of aviary birds. 



"The young are like the female. The male changes into 

 "adult plumage about March, and the change takes place with- 



