IRENA CYANEA. 



Malayan Fairy Bluebird. 



Muscicapa cyanea, Begbie, Malayan Peninsula, p. 517 (1834). 



Irena puella, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. xv. p. 308 (nee Lath.).— Id. Cat. Birds Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. 214 



(partim).— Bonap. Consp. i. p. 274— Walden, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 4, vol. v. p. 417.— Id. Ibis, 



1871, p. 170. 

 Irena malayemis, Moore in Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E.I. Co. i. p. 274.— Jerdon, Birds of India, ii. p. 106. 



— Gray, Hand-list of Birds, i. p. 288. 

 Irena cyanea, Walden, Ibis, 1871, p. 170— Sharpe, Cat. Birds, iii. p. 269.— Hume, Stray Feathers, 1879, p. 63. 



The specific distinctness of the members of the genus Irena has been for many years a subject of discussion 

 amongst naturalists ; and it is now more than thirty years ago since the late Mr. Blyth drew attention to 

 the subject. In a note upon the genus Irena he remarks : — "A curious distinction hetween the Indian and 

 Malayan /. puella has been pointed out by Lord Arthur Hay, to whom we are indebted for numerous other 

 closely allied forms. In the Malayan bird the under tail-coverts reach quite to the end of the tail, while in 

 /. indica they are never less than an inch and a quarter short of the tail-tip in the males, and generally an inch 

 and a half short in the females. I have verified this observation in so many examples from both regions 

 that there can be no doubt of the fact." 



Ever since the date of the above passage naturalists have been agreed, with greater or less unanimity, that 

 the Malaccan Irena was a distinct species ; and in 1854 Mr. Frederic Moore gave to it the name of 

 /. malayemis. Even as the title of /. indica, bestowed on the Indian bird by Lord Arthur Hay, was found to 

 be forestalled by the older name of I. puella (Latham), so a more ancient name for the Malaccan bird was 

 found in an old work on the Malayan peninsula by Captain Begbie, who called it Muscicapa cyanea. It is 

 common enough in collections from the Malayan peninsula ; and Mr. Hume records it from Malacca, Johore, 

 and Singapore, while, according to the late Dr. Stoliczka, it goes as high as Province Wellesley. 



Nothing has been recorded of its habits, that I am aware of; and I end this article, therefore, by quoting 

 the description given by Mr. Sharpe in his ' Catalogue of Birds.' 



"Adult male. Similar to /. criniger in the distribution of its colour and in the shade of blue, but having 

 the under tail-coverts falling short of the tail by half an inch. Total length 93 inches, culmen 1*0, wing 

 4*6, tail 3*5, tarsus 0*7. 



"Adult female. Similar to the female of Irena criniger. Total length 8*5 inches, wing 4'6, tail 37, 

 tarsus - 7." 



The figures in the Plate represent a pair of birds in my own collection ; they are of about the natural 

 size. 



