IOKA SCAPULARIS. 
Ckeetoa, of the Javanese, 
lora scapularis, Horsf Syst. Arrangement of Birds from Java, Linn, Trans. Vol. 
XIII. p, 152. 
Turdus scapularis, Sir T. S. Bafflers Cat of a Zool Coll made in Sumatra, Linn, 
Tram, Vol, XIII p. 311, 
Scapular Wagtail, Gen. Hist, of Birds by John Latham, M. D. Second Edition, 1823, 
Vol VI. p. 336, N. 25. 
THE lora scapularis has various points of affinity both to the genus Sylvia 
and to Motacilla, and it is not easy to determine to which it be most nearly related. 
According to the views of many Ornithologists, it would be arranged in the former 
genus. The celebrated Dr. Latham, who first established this genus, has assigned 
a predominance to those characters which associate it with the Wagtails, and 
has described it with the name of Scapular Wagtail, in the Sixth Volume of the new 
Edition of the General History of Birds, which is now in progress of publication. 
The principles which have guided me in arranging the Systematic Catalogue of 
Birds from the Island of Java, contained in the XHIth Volume of the Transactions 
of the Linnean Society, have not permitted me to associate it either with Sylvia or 
Motacilla: I have therefore defined it as a distinct genus, with the name Iora. In 
preparing a more detailed description for the present Number of these Researches, I 
have again instituted a careful comparison with the genus Sylvia, to which, according 
to my views, it is most nearly related, and I shall now detail the result. 
In the first place, it is necessary to remark, that the individuals composing the 
extensive genus Sylvia, have been divided by M. Temminck into six distinct 
sections, and that the second section has more particularly been kept in view in the 
following comparison. It appears, then, that the general habit of lora, both regarding 
the form of the body and the proportion of parts, is more compact. The body is 
short, the neck thick, and the head robust. The bill differs from that of the species 
of Sylvia with which I have compared it, in length, strength, and form : it is, in 
lora, as long as the head, of great strength, and very gradually attenuated. At 
the base the upper mandible is nearly angular ; thence the sides have a very gentle 
rotundity, and meet in the culmen or back, which is strongly rounded above, and 
terminated, at the apex, with a very gradual curve. The rotundity of the sides 
is not distinctly perceived without a close examination ; the bill, seen at a small 
distance, appears to be bounded by an even surface. The lower mandible, in parti- 
