( 171 ) 



about 14 rill.; wing GG — 09 mm.; tail ubout 70 — 72; tarsus 19: (•iiliiicii Hi -17. 

 Several evidently immature specimens, /;1'/'/m, have t lie mani le dark cinereous grev, 

 hut the steel-black colour of" the adult iiinle seems gradually to spread over it in one 

 specimen, as if it was changing its colour. The feathers of (lie lliroal and jui,niluni 

 in these specimens are tipped with white. 



There is only one specimen, in abraded i)luniage, that is niarkcd " ? ."' Ii ditVcrs 

 entirely from the mule, as we might exjiect in any Moniirchu or PicorliyHclnus. Il 

 is above cinereous grey, slightly washed with brown. Lores whitish. A spot behind 

 the eye pale whitish grey. Wings dark brown, inner welis wliitc Unvards the base. 

 No white on rump and ujiper tail-coverts ; tail as in the 'iiialt'. Inder surface whitish, 

 washed with pale orang<>-rufous, especially on the breast ; aluloinen almo.st white. 

 Thighs pale brownish ; under wing-coverts and axillaries dirty white. " Iris chocolate ; 

 bill pale lead-blue, black at ape.x ; legs dark slate-blue; claws blackish." As this 

 specimen comes from the same island, as the size of hill and markings of tail agree 

 with those of the 7ftr(/« (wings not exactly measurable, being niuch abraded and partly 

 damaged^), I do not at all doubt that this bird really is l\a' fennile of M. everetti mihi, 

 and we know that the females in this genus always differ from the vude, in some 

 cases even more strikingly than in this. The species belongs to riezm'h;/nchii8, if 

 that genus can be separated from Monarcha, as limited in the VaUiJ. of Birds. Vol. IV. 

 It does not agree with any of the known species, though the coloration i^ of a 

 pattern common in so many birds. 



28. Pitta virginalis sp. nov., or Pitta irena virginalis subsp. don-. 



Pitta speciei P. irenn dictae similis .sed macula mentali nigra minore (interdnm 

 indicata tantum), stria superciliari brunnescentiore et multo latiore, ala paulhuu 

 breviore distinguenda. Ala 103 — -109 mm. 



Hah. Insula Pjampea sic dicta. 



(J? ad. Hill horn-Iilack (A. Everett) (evidently jiale at base in P. irena — in 

 skin). Iris dark brown ; crown, nape, and side of head deep lilack ; broad su|ierciliary 

 .stripes from the base of the bill to the nape, where the two aiijiroach each other 

 a little, deep buff, very faintly, hardly perceptibly, tinged with greenish towards thi' 

 end ; mantle, outer edges of remiges, greater wing-coverts, and tips of the black 

 rectrices dark green ; rest of remiges black, with a white speculum on the jirimaries. 

 Under wing-coverts black ; lesser wing-coverts and rump pale shiny .sky-bhic ; upper 

 wing-coverts black, with narrow dark green edges. Chin more or less black, generally 

 for about 10 mm., in one for 13 mm., and in one white with a few black featliers 

 only. (In P. irena black for about, at least, 2,5 mm., and reaching in a point towards 

 the throat.) Beneath deep fawn-colour; throat white, shading into the fawn. Centre 

 of lower abdomen, crissum, and under tail-coverts scarlet, on the abdomen t inged 

 and mixed with black. Thighs fawn; legs and feet white, tinged with |iinkish; claws 

 dark grey. 



Total length about 170—18(1 inni. ; culiueu 2.); wing lo:) — 111!); tail 38--39 ; 

 tarsus 35. 



As said bcfiire, this bcauliful and hitherto uiikMowii toriii of J'illa, fmni an 

 ornithologically hitherto (juite virgin island, is nearest to Pilla ireiui fioni Tiinor 

 and some other small islands of the Timor grou)!, but is at once distinguished by 



the very broad (twice as br()a<l) superciliary stri| f deep hulV (ir fawn-colour, ami 



by the smaller extent of the black on the chin, also by a .--lightly shorter wing. 



