312 PITTID.K. 



dead leaves and skeletons of leaves, and pieces of thin paper-like bark, and has no special lining. 

 Outwardly it measures twelve inches in height by eight and a half inches in diameter, and across 

 the entrance three inches in width by two and a quarter inches in height. It was built on the 

 ground between the buttresses of a Fig Tree, the centre of the lower portion of the structure 

 consisting of small pieces of half decayed wet wood and bits of mould. 



The eggs are usually four, sometimes only three, and occasionally five in number for a 

 sitting, oval or rounded oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and slightly lustrous. 

 They are of a delicate white or pale creamy-white ground colour, and are finely dotted and 

 spotted with blackish-brown and similar underlying markings of bluish-grey ; frequently an egg 

 in a set has the markings smaller than those on the remainder ; in others they are confined to a 

 few small dots on the larger end, with which may be intermingled one or two small irregular- 

 shaped surface or underlying patchesof inky-grey. Asa rule the markings are uniformly distributed. 

 A set of three taken on the loth August, 1890, measures: — Length (A) i-33 x 0-95 inches; 

 (B) i'35 X o'97 inches; (C) \-i~i x 0-95 inches. A set of four taken on the 3rd November, 

 1897, measures : — Length (A) f36 x 0-98 inches; (B) 1-37 x '0-99 inches; (C) i'38 x o-gg 

 inches; (D) 1-3 x o*g6 inches. 



In New South Wales October and the three following months constitute the usual breeding 

 season of this species, but as previously pointed out eggs have been taken in August. 



Pitta similliiiia, inhabiting the Cape York Peninsula, is only a smaller race of P. strcpitans, 

 wing 4'5 inches, otherwise the plumage of the two are alike. As previously pointed out specimens 

 from Cairns and Cardwell are almost intermediate between the two in size. 



Specimens of this intermediate form were obtained by Messrs. E. J. Cairn and Robert 

 Grant on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian Museum, and the latter has given me the 

 following notes : — " We found Pitta simillima fairly common, both in the coastal scrubs near 

 Cairns, and the mountain scrubs in the Herberton District. In the former locality, the stone or 

 stump forming one of their ' breaking grounds ' would be surrounded with two or three buckets 

 full of broken shells, but those on the mountains far less. Pittas suffer very much in the coastal 

 districts near Cairns from a minute tick of a bright red colour. On two occasions I picked up 

 these birds with a scarlet patch under their wings about the size of a shilling, and that could 

 neither run or fly. I could not distinguish any difference in their habits and call note from 

 those of Pitta strepitans. 



A set of three eggs, taken by Mr. Bertie Hislop in September 1896, are rounded ovals in 

 form, one specimen being almost globular, and the surface of all is extremely glossy. They are 

 of a dull white, or pale creamy-white ground colour, which is thickly mottled and blotched all 

 over with purplish-brown and underlying markings of violet-grey ; on one specimen the markings 

 consist only of small and almost invisible spots and dots of a much lighter shade. They measure : — 

 Length (A) i-i8 x 0-95 inches ; (B) i-i8 x 0-95 inches; (C) it5 x 0-97 inches. 



Pitta mackloti. 



MACKLOT'S PITTA. 

 Pitta mackloti, Temm., PI. Col., Tom. V., pi. 547 (1834) ; Gould, Suppl. Bds. Austr., pi. 29 (1869); 

 Solater, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIV., p. 436 (1888). 

 Adult male — General colour above dull green; rump and upper tail coverts blue, the tail 

 feathers slightly darker; quills blackish-brown, paler at the tips, the third, fourth and fifth primaries 

 with a white bar near the centre of the featlier ; upper wing-coverts and outer webs of the secondaries 

 blue, with a concealed white spot on the lesser coverts; crown of the head reddish-brown, passing into 



