Birds from Southern Asia. All 



Irena turcosUj n. sp. 

 Irena puella, (Lath.), Horsf. Linn. Tr. xiii. p. 153. 



The species belonging to the genus Irena may be divided 

 into two sections : — the first consisting of a single species, /. 

 cyanogastra^ Vigors, from the Philippines ; the second com- 

 prising, at tlie least, three closely related species, of which 

 I. jpuella^ (Latham), may be made the type. I. jyuella appears 

 to be restricted to the Western Ghauts of India and to Ceylon; 

 for, judging only, it is true, from examples of the female, the 

 Burmese race belongs to that of Malacca ; and individuals 

 from Arracan and Assam will, in all probability, be found to 

 agree with those from Burma. The Malayan form, /. cyanea^ 

 (Begbie), (Malayan peninsula, 1834)=/. malayensis^ Moore, 

 frequents both the peninsula of Malacca and the island of 

 Siimatra ; for between examples from these two localities I can 

 detect no distinction. Java contains a third species, the /. 

 puella, (Lath.), ap. Horsf.; and it is for this species I propose 

 the title given above. As in /. cyanea, (Begbie), the Javan 

 Irena has the upper and under tail-coverts much more deve- 

 loped than in /. jyuella from the Western Ghauts. In my 

 Javan examples the tail-coverts surpass the rectrices in length, 

 while in /. cyanea the coverts do not quite equal the rectrices. 

 The bill of /. turcosa is also stouter than that of /. cyanea. 

 But the Javan Irena is most distinguished by the blue colour- 

 ing of the upper plumage being light turquoise. When com- 

 pared together, the Malabar Irena is dark blue, inclining, in 

 some lights, to purple ; the Malayan is of a somewhat lighter 

 shade of blue ; the Javan is light blue. In all three species 

 the length of the wing is equal. In the Malabar bird the tail 

 exceeds that of the other two by a quarter of an inch. The 

 females of the Malayan and Javan species closely resemble 

 each other in the colour of their plumage ; the female of the 

 Malabar bird is much darker, and easily recognizable. 



Latham's Fairy Roller (Syn. Suppl. i. p. 87) was described 

 from a drawing by Lady Impey. If the subject of that draw- 

 ing was from Eastern India or the Malay peninsula (in itself 

 most highly probable), the Malayan species will bear the title 

 of /. jyuella, (Latham) , and the Malabar bird that of /. indica, 

 A. Hay ; but, as the point is seemingly beyond the reach of 

 proof, it will be best to adhere to the titles given above. 



Ephialtes jerdoni, n. sp. 

 Ephialtes lempiji, Horsf., Jerdon, in part, B. of Ind. i. p. 138. 



This title is suggested for the larger Scops owl of Malabar. 

 Mr. Gurney, to whom I have submitted a large series of E, 



