138 



Birds of Burma. 



viridissima is not the male of I. scapularis. I. viridis, Bp., may be the male 

 of I. scapularis, but then it is difficult to separate I. viridis from I. typhia. 

 I. viridis, described from Bornean examples, occurs also at Malacca, and is the 

 species referred to above as the I. typhia of those countries. It is certainly 

 of a much deeper yellow underneath than I. typhia of India and Burma, 

 having the chin, cheeks, throat, breast, and under tail-coverts intense golden, 

 much deeper than in /. zeylonica in full plumage, and it is but little less 

 brilliant in the female. The bill, too, is somewhat stouter than in I. typhia, 

 and much more so than in Javan I. scapularis, a character also relied on by 

 Bonaparte. As it is possible that /. typhia does sometimes assume this rich 

 golden colour, although in the many individuals I have examined I have 

 never met with one, I. viridis had better, for the present, remain a synonym 

 of I. typhia. Of the males, one Tonghoo example (April 19) has the inter- 

 scapulary region black. Another (April 15) has the entire head and nape 

 black. A Rangoon individual (June 6) has the occiput and nape black, 

 forehead mixed black and green, some interscapulars turning to black, or re- 

 verting to green. All the rest (a large series) green above. A Karen nee male, 

 in otherwise typical plumage, has the middle pair of rectrices broadly tipped 

 (quarter of an inch) with green, remainder very narrowly tipped with green, 

 outer pair fringed on inner and outer margins, and tipped with the same colour. 

 This example has the chin, cheeks, throat, and breast very deep yellow, but 

 not golden, as in I. viridis. The mutations, both in colouring and markings, 

 which exhibit themselves in all the members of this genus, have been too little 

 studied and are too little known to entitle any one at present to pronounce dog- 

 matically on the subject. The problem is a much deeper one than whether I. 

 zeylonica and 1. typhia are to stand in our lists as titles representing one species 

 or two distinct species. The admitted fact that the occurrence of birds in the 

 I. zeylonica garb are exceptional in Burma and the rule in Ceylon and penin- 

 sular India, whereas breeding males are rarely (as yet recorded) found in 

 Ceylon and peninsular India in /. typhia plumage, is one that cannot be dis- 

 posed of or accounted for by a mere dogmatic assertion that all belong to one 

 species. Cf. Captain Cock (Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 297).] 



Subfam. Ireninje (Irenas). 



*480. Ieena puella (J. 469). ■ 



Coracias puella, Lath. ; nee Muscicapa cyanea, Begbie, v. Irena malayensis, Moore ; cf. 

 Viscount Walden, Ann. M. N. H. (4), v. p. 417; J. A. S. B. xxviii. p. 274. 

 Arakan, Tenasserim. 

 [Tonghoo, Karen hills (W. JR.); Thayet Myo (0.). The Irena of the 



