IRENA PUELLA. 



The total length is from 8^ to 9^ inches. Tlie bill measures from the gape to 

 the tip, one inch and half a line. The form of the body is oval ; the neck thick, 

 and the wings pass but a small distance beyond the root of the tail. The tarsi are 

 remarkably short, and the toes and claws weak. The bill and feet are black. In 

 some individuals, two or three of the greater coverts, nearest the back, have an 

 extreme band of blue, which appears in several spots on the wing ; but these are 

 neither constant, nor uniform in size, and in general they exist on one side only. 

 Beyond the neck the blue colour of the upper part of the back spreads considerably, 

 and unites with the blue of the lesser coverts of the wings, so that the black and 

 blue of the sides of the neck meet in an irregularly defined line. 



The Female is of the same size with the Male, and agrees with it accurately 

 in the proportion and form of the bill and tarsi. The predominant colour is a dull 

 blue, slightly inclining to olive, and which, when exposed to a strong light, exhibits 

 an obscure reflection of sea-green. The plumes of the head, neck, and upper parts 

 of the body are blackish brown at the base, and this colour shews itself on these 

 parts, in very delicate transverse undulations. The quill-feathers are entirely brown, 

 with darker shafts inclining to black: the greater coverts of the wing, and the 

 secondary quill-feathers are brown, but have exteriorly a border of the general dull 

 blue colour. On the rump and coverts of the tail, as well as on the vipper side of 

 the tail-feathers, the reflection of the sea-green colour shews itself strongly when 

 these parts are turned to the light. The tail and wings beneath are brown. 



The Irena puella inhabits woods and forests, feeding on fruits and wild grains. 

 In Java it is a very rare bird, and confined to a few districts, where it conceals 

 itself on solitary hills, distant from the habitations of man, preferring rather elevated 

 and cool situations. I met with it only in the western parts of the Island ; once in 

 the Province of Banyu-mas, and a second time on the ridges of hills situated south- 

 west from Buitenzorg. 



A drawing, in the ' possession of Lady Impey, afforded to Dr. Latham the 

 materials for the description contained in the Supplement to his Synopsis, p. 87. 21. 

 It is here arranged among the Rollers ; but it may be presumed that the characters 

 were not accurately represented in the drawing. In the " Zoological Catalogue," 

 Sir Stamford Raffles remarks, " adverting to the form of the bill, compressed, carinated, 

 " and notched, it seems doubtful whether this bird be truly a species of Coracias." 

 The result of my comparisons has been to place it in the family of Cornirostres of 

 the celebrated Cuvier, and to arrange it as a distinct genus in that group which com- 

 prises Turdus, Pastor, Oriolus, and Myiothera; and which is allied on one side to 

 Edolius, and on the other to Philedon. It has been my endeavour in the generic 



