MALAYAN OitNiTUOLOUY. 



13 



outer edges of some of the wing-quills pale yellow ; wings blaek, 

 tips of secondaries white, forming two parallel white bars across 

 the wings ; tail black. 



Ibena malavensis. The Fairy Bluebird. 



This most richly coloured bird is fairy plentiful in the country 

 round Mount Ophir, and is also found in Perak, Singapore, and 

 on Penang Hill, but certainly cannot be put down as at all 

 common. 



I fail to see the difference between the Malayan Bluebird 

 and the Indian species, I. puella ; but Jerdon, in his a Birds of 

 India," says, " A race from Malaya differs in having the under 

 tail-coverts reaching to the end of the tail, whilst in the Indian 

 bird they are never less than li inches short of the tail." How- 

 ever, I have before me five specimens — four from Malacca, the 

 other from Perak ; and not one of them has the under tail-coverts 

 extending to the end of the tail. They are shorter than the tail 

 by f of an inch in each case. The following is the description of a 

 male shot near Kampong Buaya, in Perak, during January, 1877 : — 



Length 10 inches ; iricles red; legs and beak black; upper 

 parts and the under tail-coverts (the last § inch short of end 

 of tail) beautiful glossy blue ; underparts, wings, and tail deep 

 velvety black. 



A female from Malacca is of a dull blue colour, mottled on the 

 head and back with cobalt-blue ; under tail-coverts cobalt-blue. 



Oeioltjs indictjs. The Black-naped Indian Oriole. 



Though . not uncommon in Malacca collections, I but once 

 myself shot one, an adult female, at Tanglin, Singapore, during the 

 last week in September. It agreed exactly with Jerdon's descrip- 

 tion ("Birds of India," vol. ii., p. 109), except that the secondaries 

 were narrowly (not broadly) margined with pale yellow. Being 

 a female, the golden back was slightly tinged with green. The 

 beak was pinky flesh-colour. The stomach contained berries. 



CopsYOHirs husicus (Raffl.). The Magpie-Kobin. 



A most appropriate name, it having the pied markings and 

 quaint manners of the Magpie, and the pleasing song of the well- 

 known Robin Red-breast. It swarms throughout the west of the 

 peninsula, being found everywhere along the mangrove-girt coasts, 



