432 REMAKES ON THE GENUS IORA. 



the secondaries crossed at the ends with white ; lower part of 

 the back and thighs, green • legs, grey. 



" Inhabits Ceylon." 



This is an absolute photograph of some of the Southern 

 breeding males, in which the second wing bar, formed by the 

 white tips of the greater coverts, has wholly disappeared, in 

 which the first wing bar has contracted to a broad patch, and 

 in which nothing is left of the white edgings to the feathers, 

 but just a white tipping to the secondaries. 



I have before me now a bird which might have been the 

 very specimen described by Latham, from the Island of Rame- 

 suram (which forms one pier, as I may say of Adam's Bridge) 

 between Ceylon and Paunben. 



On this bird of Latham's was founded Gmelin's Fringilla 

 multicolor, and this name has precedence of his other named 

 zeylonica, and must be adopted for the Southern race by 

 those who consider this entitled to specific distinction. 



In 1821 Horsfield described the Javan race under the name 

 of Iora scapularis, and later he further amplified his descrip- 

 tion of and figured the species. 



His figure and description alike refer to the female, and he 

 later, following Blyth, accepted (Cat. B. Mus. E. I. C, 266) 

 the very distinct 1. viridissima as the male of his species. 



His figure, at any rate in my copy, represents the bird of a 

 far purer green above than any female that I have ever seen ; 

 but his description shows that the plate is in error, as he says 

 that " the general colour of the upper parts is olive green." 



The following is Horsfield's revised description: — 



" The entire length of the Iora scapularis is five inches and a 

 half; its weight four drams and one-fourth ; the general colour of 

 the upper parts is olive green, inclining to yellow ; it is more 

 saturated on the back and neck, and becomes pale and yellowish 

 on the coverts of the tail and forehead ; the same colour, but 

 more diluted, covers the abdomen and vent ; the throat, breast, 

 and cheeks have a bright lemon yellow tint; a narrow border 

 of this colour also marks the outer margin of the quill and 

 secondary feathers, while the latter have interiorly a whitish 

 margin ; each of the greater coverts of the wing is terminated 

 obliquely by a broad white band, and the disposition of these 

 feathers occasions a single, or in some instances two, irregular, 

 nearly parallel, longitudinal lines on the wing; the general 

 colour of the quill and secondary feathers is dark brown, in- 

 clining to black ; the plumes of the lower part of the back 

 and the abdomen, and hypochondria, are greatly lengthened, 

 and their filaments are soft, silky, and much sub-divided, so as 

 to constitute a thick coat surrounding these parts like a muff ; 



