lORA SCAPULARIS. 



Cheetoo, of the Javanese. 



lora scapularis, Horsf. Syst. Arrangement of Birds from Java, Linn. Trans. Vol. 



XIII. p. 152. 

 Turdus scapularis, Sir T. S. Raffles's Cat. of a Zool. Coll. made in Sumatra, Linn. 



Trans. Vol XIII. p. 311. 

 Scapular Wagtail, Gen. Hist, of Birds hy John Latham, M. D. Second Edition, 1823,^ 



Vol. VI. p. 336, N. 25. 



The lora scapularis has various points of affinity both to the genus Sylvia 

 and to Motacilla, and it is not easy to determine to which it be most nearly related. 

 According to the views of many Ornithologists, it would be arranged in the former 

 genus. The celebrated Dr. Latham, who first established this genus, has assigned 

 a predominance to those characters which associate it with the Wagtails, and 

 has described it with the name of Scapular Wagtail, in the Sixth Volume of the new 

 Edition of the General History of Birds, which is now in progress of pubhcation. 

 The principles which have guided me in arranging the Systematic Catalogue of 

 Birds from the Island of Java, contained in the Xlllth Volume of the Transactions 

 of the Linnean Society, have not permitted me to associate it either with Sylvia or 

 Motacilla : I have therefore defined it as a distinct genus, with the name Ioea. In 

 preparing a more detailed description for the present Number of these Researches, I 

 have again instituted a careful comparison with the genus Sylvia, to which, according 

 to my views, it is most nearly related, and I shall now detail the result. 



In the first place, it is necessary to remark, that the individuals composing the 

 extensive genus Sylvia, have been divided by M. Temminck into six distinct 

 sections, and that the second section has more particularly been kept in view in the 

 following comparison. It appears, then, that the general habit of lora, both regarding 

 the form of the body and the proportion of parts, is more compact. The body is 

 short, the neck thick, and the head robust. The biU differs from that of the species 

 of Sylvia with which I have compared it, in length, strength, and form : it is, in 

 lora, as long as the head, of great strength, and very gradually attenuated. At 

 the base the upper mandible is nearly angular ; thence the sides have a very gentle 

 rotundity, and meet in the culmen or back, which is strongly rounded above, and 

 terminated, at the apex, with a very gradual curve. The rotundity of the sides 

 is not distinctly perceived without a close examination ; the biU, seen at a small 

 distance, appears to be bounded by an even surface. The lower mandible, in parti- 



