A NEW INDIAN IORA. 411 
the wing black with white tips to the feathers ; tail, black with 
a broad white tip which latter may possibly disappear with 
advancing age, but no proof of this has been discovered ; under 
parts brilliant yellow lighter and purer than in J. typhia. 
The main distinguishing feature in this species is the tail, 
which under no circumstances has any green on it in male or 
female, young or old. 
Habitat.—The dry parts of Western Continental India. The 
specimens in my own collection were all obtained in the Meerut 
and Saharunpoor districts, N. W. P., Mr. Hume’s collection con- 
tains one ¢ from Mount Aboo, five specimens from Sambhur, 
one from Kutch, one from Agra, one from Jhansi, and six 
from Etawah. 
Before describing this species as new, I had the advantage of 
going carefully through the large series of Joras in Mr. Hume’s 
museum; and examined them carefully witha view to dis- 
cover whether any distinctive points could be adduced between 
I. zeylonica and J. typhia. The distinctions as given by Jerdon 
are briefly “ J. typhza wants the black on the head and_ back, 
the bill is slightly longer, and it is altogether a larger bird.” 
The two latter distinctions will not hold good ; with regard 
to the first characteristic, the assumption of black on the head 
and back, it will hold good, as a rule, but to it even, there are 
exceptions. It may be broadly stated that in the South, where 
the type of I. zeylonica prevails, the males almost without excep- 
tion assume the black plumage on head and back, while in the 
North the black plumage is assumed very rarely indeed. 
It may be convenient under these circumstances to keep the 
two races specifically distinct ; on this point no doubt opinions 
will vary. 
But whether the two forms J. typhia and I. zeylonica be united 
or kept separate, they both equally differ from the new species 
now described as J. nigrolutea, in that in both, the tail of the 
female and young male is green with or without paler edging ; 
in both this green changes directly to jet black, and in neither 
of them does any trace of either white or grey occur on the tail 
in any stage. 
The variation in plumage of the Indian Joras is a matter of 
so much doubt and interest that I take this opportunity of not- 
ing the facts as exhibited in the specimens in this museum* 
(Mr. Hume’s). 
Ceylon, a pair g and 2. In the male the tail is entirely jet 
black, the green of the upper plumage being largely mixed 
* T shall be glad to receive good specimens of Toras, carefully sexed and dated, from 
all parts of the country —ED., 5. F. 
