( 585 ) 



biiiiil rouiul the hindneok, encircling the crown, deep black : a few feathers ou the 

 chill also blackish. Upjx'v surface from the hinilneck to the tail dark olive-green. 

 Primaries black, the fourth to the sixth with a white median bar of varying extent, 

 sometimes occupying only one, sometimes both webs ; inner primaries with olive tips 

 and olive-green edges to the outer webs near the tip. Lesser wing-coverts very jiale 

 metallic blue ; the next series with metallic tips of a very light green. Rectrices 

 dark olive-green, black towards tiie base. Upper tail-coverts black, with glossy ti]is 

 of ]>ale blue : the adjoining feathers of tlie lower rnnip witli glossy bluisli green 

 ti])s ; chin blackish, followed by a wliite throat-patch ; all the remainder of the 

 under surface ochraceous-buff, darkest on the chest, without any red or lilack. Iris 

 dark brown, feet light bluish slat<', bill black. Wing aliont ItiO — 10.5 mm. ; tail 

 ;38, metatarsus 'iTi, culmen 29." 



Mr. Meek sent two specimens, both marked " Male," both in moult, one with the 

 crown-feathers all growing. Both were shot ou Ysabel Island in July, ou the 4th 

 and 'ith of that month. 



This I'/tfa is very different from all known species of the genus. Its nearest 

 ally apjiears to be F. strepitdns from Australia, which, however,,has the abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts black and red, a black throat and black line on the crown, and 

 is much larger. There is no close ally of this Pitta in the Papuan region. 



The genus I'ifta is quite new to the ^^olomon archipelago, so that this bird makes 

 one of the most interesting discoveries of Mr. Meek and his friends. 



22. Podargus inexpectatus Hart. 



Podurgits occllatiis {errorr, non Quoy et Gaim.) Tristr., ]hh 1S02. p. 290 

 (Ysabel Island). 



I'odavgm inexpectatus Hartert, Bidl. B. O. C. xii. (Nov. 30th l'.M)l) p. 24 

 (Ysabel Island). 



"cJ. Upperside brown, very finely vermiculated, darker on the rump and head, 

 merging into whitish grey on the scapulars ; wing-coverts with a number of large, 

 roundish, very conspicuous white spots ; quills deep brown, with bnflf bars across the 

 outer and part of the inner webs ; tail with very obvious bars ; under surface of a 

 vermiculated, irregularly transversely mottled brown colour, spotted with black near 

 the tips of the feathers, but with white spots only in the centre of the breast 

 and on the chin. 



" ? . Rufous, but similarly marked to the?«^//('. Wing-coverts very deep rufous- 

 brown, the roundish white apical spots being tlierefore very cons[)icuous. Wing, 

 ? 220, (?(? 235, 221 ; tail, ? ITS, SS 188, 192 ; width of bill at gape, ? 52, 

 c? 6 56, 58 mm. Iris yellowish brown, feet light pale yellow, bill turkey-umber." 



One/enmlc and two mates sent, shot on Ysabel in June lOol. 



Canon Tristram mentioned a PodaryHs from Ysabel, which he called /'. ocellntus, 

 but the New Guinea ocellatus is very much smaller. 



Tlie /'. inexpectatus is nearest to P. intermedius Hart., from the D'Entrecasteaux 

 group, lint differs in having the white apical spots to the wing-coverts much rounder 

 in shape, the inalcs being darker and having much less white on the under surface, 

 and no distinct crescents of blackish brown patches on the sides of the throat and 

 foreneck. The upper surface is more uniform, the tail much more distinctly cross- 

 barred than is usual in P. intermedius. The upper wing-coverts are very dark, the 

 under wing-coverts less uniform and more sharply spotted. The bill is somewhat, 



