PITTA. 421 



Sclater says : ''It is impossible to mistake this noble species, distin- 

 guished at once by its pure white throat and silvery blue under surface." 



"The plumage of some of the young birds, being in an interesting 

 stage of transition, is worth describing. The youngest example, a male, 

 has the upper parts and wings like those of the adult, but the breast, 

 sides, and flanks are of a dirty, grayish olive, only one or two of the 

 silver-blue feathers being visible, and the entire middle of the breast 

 and belly are pale scarlet. A rather older bird is similar to the above, 

 but down the sides and middle of the breast are three lines of pale blue 

 feathers. In both specimens these are being attained by molt. In the 

 middle of the breast a tuft of the black adult feathers is making its 

 appearance amongst the red, and some of the latter appear to be turning 

 black without a molt. * * *." {Grant.) 



Steere's pitta is by no means common in any of the islands where 

 it has been found. In Bohol it was collected in forests of small trees 

 growing on coral-limestone hills and '\^'liitehead found the species on 

 similar ground in Samar. 



386. PITTA MOLUCCENSIS (P. L. S. Miiller). 



BLTJE-WINGED PITTA. 



Turdus moluccensis P. L. S. MIjlleb, Natursyst. Suppl. (1776), 144. 



Pipa cyanoptera Temminck, PL Col. (1823), 218; Sclateb, Cat. Birds Brit. 



Mus. (1888), 14, 420; Hume, Gates ed. Nests & Eggs Ind. Bds. (1890), 



2, 283; Sharpe, Hand-List (1901), 3, 180. 

 Pitta fastosa McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 286. 



Basilan (Celestino) . Burma, Siam, Cambodia, southern China, Malay Penin- 

 sula, Borneo. 



Adult (sexes alike). — Sides of head including lores, cheeks, supercilia, 

 and ear-coverts black, connected by a wide black collar; wide vertical 

 stripe black, bordered on each side by a wide stripe of fulvous brown, 

 the feathers edged with pale buff on exterior webs; back, scapulars, and 

 tertials dark green; rump, upper tail-coverts, and lesser and median 

 wing-coverts bright ultramarine-blue; chin black; throat white; lower 

 throat, breast, abdomen, and flanks ruddy buff, most intense on breast; 

 vent, under tail-coverts, and middle of abdomen bright red; tail black, 

 tipped with dull blue; primaries black, each father with a white patch, 

 mesial and smallest on first, reaching tip on seventh; secondaries black, 

 edged with dull blu6 on terminal" half ; alula, pi'imary-coverts, axillars, 

 and wing-lining black. A male measures: Wing, 119; tail, 38; culmen 

 from base, 26 ; bill from nostril, 17 ; tarsus, 39. A female from Basilan 

 (type of Pitta fastosa) measures: Length in flesh, 190; wing, 117; tail, 

 40; culmen from base, 28; bill from nostril, 18; tarsus, 36. 



The type of Pitta fastosa McGregor proves to be a specimen of P. 

 moluccensis. This species is migratory. 



