314 FITTID.*;. 



patches of faint violet-grey, the markings predominating on the thicker end, where they form an 

 irregular cap. A set of four measures: — Length (A) i-i8 x o-88 inches ; (B) i-iy x 0-87 inches; 

 (C) I'ly X eg inches; (D) i'2 x 0-88 inches. 



Immature birds resemble the adults, but are browner on the crown of the head, and have 

 the upper and under parts mottled here and there with a few scattered brown feathers. ^\ ing 

 4 inches. 



Pitta iris. 



RAINBOW PITTA. 

 Pitta iris, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1842, p. 17; id., Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. IV., pi. 3 (1848); id., 

 Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 432 (1865); Sclater, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIV., 

 p. 444 (1888). 



Adult male — General colour above golden-green : upper tail-coverts green, some of the concealed 

 feathers tipped tvith blue; lesser wing-coverts lustrous silvery-blue, the tips of the longest rich blue, the 

 whole forming a conspicrious shoulder patch; median and greater-coverts and secondaries of a m,ore 

 pronounced golden shade than the back; prim,aries brownish-black, paler at the tips, the third, fourth 

 and fifth having a white spot about the middle of the feather ; tail-feathers dull golden-green, black at 

 the base, the latter colour iiicreasing in extent towards the outermost feather on either side; entire head, 

 hind neck, cheeks, throat, breast and upper portion of the abdomen velvety-black; a broad stripe 

 extending over each eye and joining on the nape chestnut-brown; sides of the abdomen pale ochreous- 

 brown; tips of the loiver flank feathers, centre of the abdomen and the tinder tail-coverts pale scarlet; 

 bill (of skin) dark broivn; legs and feet fleshy brown. Total length 7 inches, icing Jf, tail 1(J, bill 

 0-82, tarsus 1-^. 



Adult fem.^le — The sexes are alike in plumage. 



Distribution — Northern Territory of South Australia. 



/'(FV OULD, who described this very distinct species in the " Proceedings of the Zoological 



V^_^ Society " in 1842, remarks : — "Two specimens of this new and beautiful Pitta, both 



killed on the North Coast of Australia, have already come under my notice. One of these is in 



the collection of Dr. Bankier, .-Vcting-Surgeon of H.M.S. ' Pelorus," and the other, apparently a 



female, is in the British Museum, having been presented to the national collection with many 



other fine birds by Captain Chambers, R.N. of the same vessel. The Rainbow Pitta differs so 



much from all other known species of this lovely tribe of birds, as to render a comparison quite 



unnecessary. Both the specimens above mentioned are from the Coburg Peninsula, where the 



species is not uncommon, and it will doubtless hereafter be found to range over a great portion 



of the North Coast. No further account of the habits of this fine bird have been received than 



that it inhabits the thick ' cane-beds ' near the coast, through which it runs with great facility, 



the boldness and richness of its markings rendering it a most attractive object in the bush." "■' 



(iould's figures of this species in his folio edition of the " Birds of .Australia," represents the 



superciliary stripe over each eye as not joining each other on the nape, and unlike any specimens 



I have seen, being almost as brilliant in colour as the scarlet vent and under tail-coverts. Pitta 



iris is undoubtedly the rarest of any species of Australian Pittida in collections, on account of the 



situations it frequents rendering it very difficult to procure specimens. Mr. George Masters, 



Curator of the Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney, writing on a " Collection of Birds 



from Port Darwin," in the " Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales," \ from 



information supplied him by the collector, the late Mr. Edward Spalding, remarks on Fitta iris — 



" Frequents thick bamboo jungles, scarce and difficult to obtain." In "Novitates Zoologicae," f 



Dr. E. Hartert, records a male and two females from the South Alligator River, in the Northern 



' Gould, Bds Austr., fol. Vol. IV., text opp. pi. 3 (1848.) t Vol. II., p. 23? (1S78). 



; Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., p. 219 (1905). 



