

IRENA CRINIGER, Sharpe. 



Bornean Fairy Bluebird, 



Coracias puella, Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 302 (nee Lath.). 



Irena puella, Motley & Dillwyn, Nat. Hist. Labuan, p. 23 (nee Lath.).— Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, 217. 



Irena cyanea, Salvad. Uccelli di Borneo, p. 151 (necBegbie). 



Irena turcosa, Sharpe, Ibis, 1876, p. 44 (nee Walden). 



Irena criniger, Sharpe, Cat. Birds, hi. p. 267.— Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, p. 338.— Id. Ibis, 1879, p. 257. 



The present representative of the genus Irena is distinguished by the extreme length of the blue under tail- 

 coverts, which reach to the very end of the tail, the upper tail-coverts extending nearly as far. It is one 

 of the handsomest species of a genus where all the species are beautiful. 



In Borneo it appears to be generally distributed. Mr. Motley met with it near Banjermassing; and it 

 seems to be especially plentiful in the Sarawak district, to judge from the large series collected by the 

 Marquis Doria and Dr. Beccari, while Mr. Alfred Everett has also sent several examples from the same 

 locality. The latter gentlemen also met with it at Bintulu, further up on the west coast of Borneo; and 

 Governor Ussher forwarded specimens from Lumbidan, in the north-western part of the island. Here, too, 

 Mr. Treacher obtained it, and says that it is called by the natives " Lalu." This is also its native name in 

 the island of Labuan, the natural history of which has been so thoroughly explored by the two gentlemen just 

 named. Lastly, Mr. W. Pryer has recently met with the species in Sandakan, in North-eastern Borneo. 



In the island of Labuan, Governor Ussher states, it is by no means rare, and is generally to be found 

 on the small species of Ficus % devouring the berries ; it is extremely noiseless in its flight, and flits into the 

 thick bush when disturbed; it is generally seen from April to September. 



The species also occurs in the island of Sumatra, and presents us with another example of the affinity 

 that exists between the avifauna of Sumatra and that of Borneo. In the present instance Mr. Sharpe has 

 compared specimens from both localities, in the British Museum, and has found them to be perfectly 

 identical. The Irena from Java is a distinct species from the one inhabiting Sumatra and Borneo. 



As no detailed description of the bird's habits has yet been published, I must content myself with adding 

 the diagnosis of the species given by Mr. Sharpe in the ' Catalogue of Birds.' 



"Adult male. Blue and black, as in the rest of the genus, the hue of the blue colour being intense cobalt, 

 very rich on the head; the under tail-coverts produced to the very end of the tail, the upper tail-coverts 

 also nearly as far ; bill and legs black ; iris red. Total length 9'3 inches, culmen 0*95, wing4'6, tail 3'25, 

 tarsus 0*65. 



"Adult female. Of the usual dull blue colour which distinguishes the hen birds in this genus." 



The figures in the Plate represent the two sexes, of the size of life, and are drawn from specimens in my 

 own collection. 



