(3) 



on April 4th. The latter is olive-brown above, wing-coverts and secondaries olive- 

 green, chin and throat whitish, breast brown, abdomen lighter and pale rosy red in 

 the middle. The superciliary stripes are pale brown, becoming lighter and very 

 faintly tinged with bluish beyoad the eyes. The iris of the nestliug is a " dark 

 brown, the feet reddish and brown, bill black with a red tip." This nestling shows 

 that the species, although it may be rare, breeds on Little Key. The adult bird has 

 the iris " coffee-brown, the feet of a brownish flesh-colour, the bill blackish brown 

 or pure black," often with the base of the under mandible pale brown. 



2. Pitta mackloti kuehni Rothsch. 

 For a long time the red-bellied Fitta from the Key Islands has been united 

 with P. mackloti of New Guinea, until Mr. Rothschild separated the form from Key 

 and the islands between Key and Ceram as P. kuehni. It is true that this form 

 is closely allied to P. mackloti, and that they are— like several other forms of Pitta 

 — only subspecies, but it differs obviously from P. mackloti in the following points : 

 In typical P. kuehni the blue jugular band extends all over the jugular pteryla 

 right on to the bare tract along the side of the neck, and even across this tract, so 

 as to form a more or less distinct blue collar on the hind-neck, while in mackloti 

 there is an oil-green patch on the sides of the jugular pteryla, in front of the 

 lateral bare tract. The feathers of the blue jugular area are of a different shape. 

 They are more equal in width in P. mackloti, but somewhat wider in the middle 

 and rather more tapering at the tip in kuehni. While mackloti has no blue on the 

 upper surface, except on the lower rump and upper tail-coverts, the entire upper 

 surface is blue in some (though not many) specimens of kuehni, and mixed blue 

 and green in others — mostly with a very distinct blue band ; there are only three 

 evidently immature individuals from Kisoei and Teoor in which the blue does not 

 extend quite to the bare tract and not on to the hind-neck. These three birds are 

 hardly distinguishable from mackloti. Generally the ear-coverts are also lighter 

 and more violet-bluish in kuehni. The wings measure luO to lUo mm. — that is, 

 a little smaller than in P. mackloti. 



We have received Kuhn's Pitta from Add, north of Great Key, 2 ; Little 

 Key (Toeal), a large series ; Elat, Great Key, 1; Kisoei (Watoebela), 3 ; Teoor, 

 a series ; Kilsoein (Koer), a series. The bird from Elat, Great Key, is also not 

 typical, not showing the blue above. It is, however, not evident that the Elat 

 specimen is young. 



Three specimens from My sol (collected by Kiihu) agree perfectly with the most 

 typical kuehni. Two others, collected by Guillemard on Mysol, can also be united 

 with kuehni, while another from N. Guillemard's collection, said to come from Mysol, 

 is insej)arable from typical mackloti. 



II. PSITTACI. 



3. Trichoglossus haematodus nigrigularis Gray. 

 It is very strange that a form hitherto only known from Aru and the Fly 

 River region in New Guinea extends its distribution to the Key Islands. This, 

 however, is an undeniable fact in the present case. The T. h. nigrigularis is the 

 commoner form of Parrakeet on the Key Islands, although by no means frequent 

 on Little Kej'. Tlie immigration of niqrigidarin of Aru into the Moluccau fauna of 

 the Key Islands is probably of recent date. This form is ver}' common on the Aru 

 Islands. We have received it from Little Key and Add, Great Key. 



