lORA SCAPULARIS. . 



cular, is comparatively of great strength, and the sharp, erect, transparent, cutting 

 edges, or tomia, afford a striking peculiarity : they are bounded by a straight line, 

 and, in the upper mandible, have a notch at the extremity, which, though small, is 

 very distinct. The bill, at the base, is broader than high, and very gradually and 

 uniformly attenuated, so as to resemble a wedge. In Sylvia, on the contrary, the 

 bill is slender, awl-shaped, and the sides are strongly rounded ; the edges are bent 

 inward ; the lower mandible is small at the base, and the height of the bill exceeds 

 the breadth : it is likewise considerably shorter than the head. 



The wings are proportionally shorter in lora than in the second section of 

 Sylvia ; the quill feathers, from the fourth, in some instances from the third, to the 

 seventh, are slightly emarginate exteriorly ; and the almost equal length of these 

 feathers, from the third to the eighth, renders the wings strictly obtuse. The taU, 

 in proportion to the body, is shorter than in most sections of the genus Sylvia, which, 

 however, considerably differ from each other in this point. The tarsi have the same 

 proportional length as in Sylvia, but the toes are more robust ; the outer toe is vmited 

 to the middle toe at the base. The claws, although compressed above, present, in 

 the adult specimens, a character which appears to be the consequence of the pecu- 

 liar habits of our bird : the points are much worn, and have the appearance of being 

 used in scraping the bark of trees ; the laminse, or plates which compose them, are 

 often forcibly separated, and marked with slight scaly inequalities and fissures. 



In keeping the lora scapularis distinct from the extensive and multifarious 

 genus Sylvia, and in proposing it as the type of a new genus, I gladly avail 

 myself of the recent example of the celebrated M. Temminck, in a similar case. In 

 the 29th Number of the Planches coloriees, he has figured two birds from Brazil, -^ 

 exhibiting the type of a new American genus, which he has named Hylophilus. 

 This genus resembles lora in the strength of the bill, in the shortness of the wings, 

 and in the rotundity of the taU ; but it has a bill shorter in proportion to the head, . 

 more strictly wedge-shaped, tending more suddenly to a sharp point, and, in the 

 figure, no notch is apparent, and the broad transparent cutting edges, which afford 

 a distinguishing character to lora, are not perceptible. I regret that M. Temminck 

 has not given in the Number which contains the figures, a definition of the characters — 

 of this genus ; but they are sufficiently evident to illustrate the views according to 

 which he has established this genus. 



The entire length of the lora scapularis is five inches and a half; its weight 

 four drams and one fourth. The general colour of the upper parts is olive green, 



