Extracts from Correspondence, Announcements, 8^c. 413 



" Cette Breve ofFre beaucoup d'analogie avee la Breve k Queue 

 Courte, Pitta cyanura (P. brachyura, L. V}, clu continent de I'lnde, 

 dont elle ne parait se distinguer que par les caracteres suivants. 

 Le vert des parties superieures est plus clair, et les parties in- 

 ferieures sont blanc grisatre, au lieu de jaune brunatre. Le 

 beau rouge qui se borne dans la Breve h, Queue Courte, au bas 

 ventre, se prolonge dans celle de la Coree jusqu'a la poitrine. Le 

 noir enfin, qui occupe les cotes de la tete, s'etend dans cette 

 espece sous le menton." 



Our bird is a female, and answers well to the figure given in 

 the ' Fauna Japonica,' which, from analogy, we should suppose 

 to be a young bird of the species ; for the under parts of our bird 

 are of a fine buff, with the exception of the chin and sides of the 

 nape, which are of a pure white. The blue on the wing-coverts 

 is extended throughout the whole of them, — a few of the feathers 

 still remaining partly green, and indicating such to be the 

 actual colouring of the juvenile garb. 



On comparing ours with a skin of P. brachyura from India, 

 kindly provided by Mr.Blyth, I notice the followingdifferences: — 



The bill of our bird is much larger and deeper, and consider- 

 bly more corvine, than that of brachyura. The occipital band 

 that passes through the eye is much broader, and extends to 

 beneath the bill. The medial coronal stripe is brown instead of 

 black, and does not quite unite with the occipital. The back, 

 scapulars, and tertiaries are of a darker, clearer green. The 

 rump and wing-coverts are of a beautiful azure-blue with a pink- 

 purple gloss, some of the feathers being patched with green. 

 The white is much more extended on the quills, some of the 

 inner quills being entirely white to their tips. The axillary 

 coverts are black, without any white. The tail is similarly co- 

 loured in both, and the lovely crimson of the under tail-coverts 

 extends up the centre of the belly to the breast. The bird is 

 much larger and much more robust than P. brachyura, but 

 bears considerable resemblance to that species. Indeed, were it 

 not for the ventral crimson stripe and its large bill, one would 

 feel almost inclined to look upon it as merely a large variety of 

 the Indian bird. 



The measurements of my skin of P. brachyura of India are as 

 follows : — 



