104 BIRDS OP INDIA. 



crown and back ; and occasionally specimens are met with which 

 have assumed more or less of the black. These perhaps may be 

 hybrids, for males, colored exactly as birds from Southern India 

 and Ceylon, are not met with in the North. The females are 

 barely distinguishable. 



Another very closely affined species, Iora scapularis, is found in 

 Java and the other islands ; and a large species, of plain plumage, 

 has lately been discovered in Arrakan, 1. Lafresnayii, Hartlaub, 

 (innotata, Blyth), which, as before remarked, by its size, shape 

 of bill, and other points, distinctly shows the relationship of this 

 genus for Phyllornis. 



There are two other species recorded in Bonaparte's Conspectus, 

 I. viridis, and 1. viridissirna, Temm., the first from Borneo, the 

 other from Sumatra. 



Sub-fam. Irenin^:, Blue-birds. 



Bill stout, of moderate length, somewhat widened at the base ; 

 cuhnen elevated, and slightly arching from the base ; the tip not 

 much hooked, but distinctly toothed ; nostrils partially concealed 

 by short plumes ; rictus with short but distinct bristles ; wings 

 moderate or rather long ; 4th quill longest, 3rd nearly as long ; 

 tail moderate, even ; feet with the tarsus very short ; lateral toes 

 very slightly unequal ; claws short, well curved. 



The fairy Blue-birds have been bandied about by various 

 authors, and it is by no means agreed on even yet where their final 

 resting place is to be. Gray, most unfortunately as I consider it, 

 places them near the Drongo Shrikes, from some similarity in the 

 bill. Others would place them in the CampephayirKs, but their 

 strictly fruit-eating habits, though not entirely unknown in that 

 family, are still the exception to the usual habits. Swainson 

 placed them, with more*regard to both structure and habits, anions 

 the Orioles, and, in his Catalogue, Blyth placed it between 

 Phyllornis and the Orioles ; and I think that this is pretty nearly 

 its true situation. The rich blue, glistering color of Irena is 

 present, in more or less extent, in Phyllornis, and in few other 

 Indian birds ; the feet and wings are quite those of the Brachy- 

 podine Thrushes, and its full rich notes are those of the Orioles. 



