REMARKS ON THE GENUS IORA, 425 



Total length, 5 *7 inches ; culmen, 0"9 ; wing", 28 ; tail, 2*3 ; 

 tarsus, 0*9. 



These two latter descriptions, it will be observed, by no means 

 perfectly agree ; the former gives a (i greenish gloss," where the 

 latter talks of u a deep indigo lustre" ; I should call it a dull steely 

 gloss. The latter says : — " Hump and upper tail-coverts, greyish, 

 the feathers very fluffy and washed slightly with yellowish j" 

 the former, " feathers of the rump, very soft, much lengthened, 

 ■whitish at their bases, olivaceous towards the middle and with 

 yellow tips ; upper tail-coverts, short, metallic black, &c." 



I think that, owing to the fluffy luxuriance of the rump fea- 

 thers, Mr. Sharpe must have overlooked the black upper tail- 

 coverts. These have been very distinct in all specimens in the 

 plumage he describes that I have examined. 



I will now describe specimens obtained at Mergui : — Males and 

 females shot in April, May, June, July and November — the re- 

 markable point being that no one specimen exhibits the plum- 

 age described by Stoliczka and Sharpe, and which seems the 

 ordinary summer plumage of Malaccan males. 



The males measured in the flesh : — 



Length, 6-4 to 6-5; expanse, 8*82 to 9'2 ; tail, 2*25 to 2'45 ; 

 Aving, 2-62 to 2-82; tarsus, 0-83 to 9'0 ; bill from gape, 0"8 to 

 0-95 ; weight, 0*75 to 0*85 oz. 



The females ai'e perhaps a trifle smaller, but one has the bill 

 slightly longer than any of the males. 



Length, 6*12; expanse, 9*0; tail, 2'25 ; wing, 2 - 75 ; tarsus, 

 0"75 ; bill from gape, 10; weight, 0"7oz. 



In the November birds the legs, feet aud claws were dull smalt 

 blue, and so were the lower mandible, gape and edges of the 

 upper mandible — the rest of this latter being blackish brown. 



In the June and July specimens the legs and feet were clear 

 lavender blue ; the lower mandibles and a broad line on each side 

 of the upper mandible, pale blue — the rest of the latter black. 



One noteworthy point is, that the two sexes, killed in winter, 

 differ in no respect, expect that the lower surface of the males 

 is invariably a brighter, purer, more golden, or gamboge yellow, 

 and that of the females, paler, greener, more lemon yellow. 

 Unlike tiphia, the tails of all the males obtained by us in No- 

 vember in Tenasserim, are olive green, like the females, not 

 black. Can they all be young birds ? They do not look so. 



The same almost maybe said of the specimens of both sexes 

 killed from April to July in the same locality ; but in one male, 

 killed on the 24th May, the dusky fringes to the feathers of 

 the crown and bac 1 ? are more distinct aud blacker, and wines 

 and tail are becoming black. None of the June and July 

 birds show any progress towards the black plumage, which at 



