392 PITTIDiE. 



these a black moustachial stripe ; chin and throat whitish, mottled 

 with black ; remainder of lower plumage light blue, barred with 

 black, and the breast washed with yellow ; the abdomen and lower 

 tail-coverts paler blue, and barely barred at all. 



Female. Differs from the male in having the upper plumage 

 brown, tiuged with blue, and the lower plumage yellowish brown, 

 barred with black. 



Bill black ; inside of mouth dusky fleshy ; iris dark reddish 

 brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs pinkish flesh-colour ; claws 

 whitish. 



Length about 9 inches ; tail 2-3 ; wing 4-5 ; tarsus 1'8 ; bill 

 from gape 1*2. 



distribution. Bhutan; Hill Tipperah ; Arrakan ; Pegu; Ten- 

 asserim as far south as Tavoy ; extending to Siam. 



Habits, fyc. Breeds in May, constructing a massive globular nest of 

 earth, leaves, and twigs on the ground. The eggs, four or five in 

 number, are white, marked with various shades of purple, and 

 measure about 1*07 by "84. 



931. Pitta cyanoptera. The Lesser Blue-winyed Pitta. 



Tardus moluccensis *, P. L. S. Mull. Natursyst. Supply. 144 (1776). 

 Pitta cyanoptera, Temm. PI Col. pi. 218 (1823) ; lilyth, Cat. p. 157 ; 



Horsf. Sf M. Cat. i, p. 183; Sclater, Cat. B. M. xiv, p. 420; 



Gates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 283. 

 Brachyurus cyanopterus (Temm.), Elliot, Mon. Pitt. pi. iv. 

 Brachyurus moluccensis (Miill.), Elliot, Ibis, 1870, p. 413 ; ■ Hume, 



S. F. iii, p. 100. 

 Pitta moluccensis {Miill), Hume Sf L>av. 8. F. \i, p. 240 ; Hume, 



Cat. no. 345 bis ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 415. 



Coloration. Crown from the nostrils to the nape fulvous-brown ; 

 lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, a stripe over the eye, and a broad band 

 round the back of the head black ; a dark brown stripe over the 

 head from the forehead to the nape ; back, scapulars, and tertiaries 

 dull green ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and the smaller upper wing- 

 coverts bright ultramarine-blue; chin immediately near the bill 

 blackish, remainder of chin and throat white ; breast, abdomen, and 

 flanks ruddy buff ; a broad stripe down the abdomen, the vent, and 

 under tail-coverts bright crimson ; tail black, tipped with dull blue ; 

 primaries black, each feather with a large patch of white ; second- 

 aries black, edged with dull blue on the terminal half ; tertiaries 

 black, tipped and margined with bluish green ; larger wing-coverts 

 dull green, edged with bright blue ; under wing-coverts black. 



Young birds have the coronal streak broader, and the feathers of 

 the crown are narrowly margined with black ; the wing-coverts are 

 didl blue, and the colours of the other parts of the body less bright 

 than in the adult. 



Iris dark brown ; eyelid and ocular region plumbeous ; bill black ; 

 inside of mouth flesh-colour ; legs fleshy pink ; claws horn-colour. 



* This name conveys an erroneous impression of this bird's habitat, and has 

 been very properly rejected by most authors. 



