IRRISOEID^ IRRISOR 15 



Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 72 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 364 ; Qurneij in 

 Andersson's B. Daniaraland, p. 65 (1872) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's 

 B. S. Afr. pp. 137, 803 (1875-84) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1879, p, 294 [Rusten- 

 burg]; Holub d PeU. Orn. Siid-Afrikas, p. 71 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 

 1882, p. 245 [Umfuli river] ; W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 51 [Rovi Eancl] . 



Irrisor viridis, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xvi, p. 17 (1892) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, 

 p. 112 (1896); Sowerby, Ibis, 1898, p. 570 [Fort Chiquaqua] ; 

 Woodward Bros. Natal Birds, p. 82 (1899) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, 

 p. 99 [Zambesi river] ; Marshall, ibid. ip. 24:4 [Mashonaland] ; Ivy, 

 Ibis, 1901, p. 20. 



" Kakelaar " {i.e., Chatterer) of Dutch ; " Hlebabafazi " of Natal Zulus 

 (Woodward) ; " Inshlaza " of Matabele (Ayres). 



Description. Adult male. — Head, neck, upper back and scapulars 

 glossy steel- green; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts dark 

 blue, with traces of gloss only on the upper tail-coverts ; wings 



Fig. 11. — Irrisor viridis, $. x |. 



steel-blue, a white spot on the inner webs of all the primaries, 

 some of the greater coverts tipped with white, some of the median 

 and lesser coverts tipped with coppery-red ; tail-feathers very 

 strongly graduated, the two centre feathers steel-blue throughout, 

 the next pair with a white spot on the outer web only, the others 

 with white spots on both webs (fig. 10, p. 13) ; below, the throat 

 and neck steel-blue, the breast and underside of the quills steel- 

 green, the abdomen, flanks and under tail-coverts blue-black without 

 steely gloss. 



Bill red ; iris very dark brown ; legs and feet red. 



Length about 130; wing 5-30; tail 6-30 to 9-00; tarsus 1-05; 

 culmen 2-25. 



The adult female resembles the male but has a shorter and 

 straighter bill ; culmen about 1-75. 



The young bird has a black bill and the head and back with a 

 purple, coppery gloss, while the lower surface is black with hardly 



