264 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Hydrornis oatesi, Gyldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 580 (Khun Tan, Muang Wang). 



Pitta oatesi oatesi, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1934, p. 

 244 (Doi Chiang Dao, Doi Suthep). — Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. 

 Hist. Suppl., 1935, p. 64 (Doi Ang Ka) ; 1936, p. 98 (Doi Suthep).— Riley, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 255 (Doi Langka, Khun Tan). 



This large pitta has been found only at the various localities listed 

 above, living in the densest evergreen from 3,000 to 5,400 feet. 



On moonlit nights, upon the higher northern peaks, can be heard 

 a melodious bong-bong, nearly always answered at once by a similar 

 call at a lower pitch. This lovely sound is, by the hill-people every- 

 where, attributed to the pet bong (which seems to mean "bong duck" 

 but may be merely a combination of onomatopoeic syllables), de- 

 scribed as a green bird which lives along small brooks in the forest. 

 The identity of the singer was ascertained only when the Karens on 

 Doi Ang Ka brought me a snared example of the present species and 

 identified it as the mysterious pet bong. 



So heavy is the undergrowth amid which it lives that the bird is 

 almost never observed and, if seen, will probably be mistaken for a 

 small mammal as it jumps and scuttles through the vegetation ; only 

 by the nocturnal calls can its numbers be estimated. 



I have collected specimens with enlarged gonads on Doi Ang Ka, 

 April 7, 1931, and September 4, 1935. Williamson's juvenile, "a 

 very young bird," was taken in September 1917. 



A breeding male had the irides brown; the maxilla dark wood 

 brown with the tip and edges of the commissure horny ; the mandible 

 dark wood brown, orange-horny below and becoming a true light 

 orange at the base ; the rictus and interior of the mouth salmon-pink ; 

 the feet and toes light orange; the soles bright orange; the claws 

 orange-white. 



The adult male has the whole head and nape rufous, usually with 

 a more or less distinct black band behind the eye and above the 

 ear coverts; the remaining upperparts dull, dark green, often more 

 or less strongly suffused with blue on the rump ; the chin and throat 

 fulvous, more or less suffused with pale pink; the remaining under- 

 pays rufous, becoming deep buff posteriorly (the breast sometimes 

 suffused with pink). The adult female differs in having the green 

 upperparts more or less suffused with rufous; the underparts deep 

 fulvous, with black bases and bars on the feathers of the lower fore- 

 neck showing through. 



ANTHOCINCLA PHAYREI PHAYREI Blyth 



Burmese Eared Pitta 



A[nthooincla] Phayrei Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 31, 1862, p. 343 

 (Toungoo, Burma). 



