Ornithologists' Cluh. 179 



and consequently this idea has been generally adopted as a 

 fact, in spite of the contrary opinion held by Count Salvadori 

 in the ' Catalogue of Birds/ 



'^ A few weeks ago a consignment of ten Eclectus wester- 

 manni arrived in Loudon alive, of which six were males and 

 four females, the latter sex being previously unknown. The 

 discovery of the female disposes at once of the fiction that 

 this excellent species could be an aberration of E. riedeli, 

 for it has a blue collar and therefore belongs to the E. roratus 

 section. 



'' The male differs from all the other species in being 

 entirely green on the breast, while the others (including 

 E. riedeli) have a large patch of red on the sides of breast. 

 (Specimens of E. roratus, E. pectoralis, E. cardinalis, and 

 E. Cornelia were exhibited.) 



" The female of E. westermaimi is similar to the female of 

 E. pectoralis, but difl'ers in having a blue collar and dull 

 purple lower breast, while E. pectoralis has both collar and 

 breast of the same bright blue colour. The under tail- 

 coverts are also of a much darker and duller red. The ring 

 of blue round the eyes of E. pectoralis is also absent in 

 E westermanni. Both sexes are likewise much smaller than 

 E. pectoralis." 



Of the ten specimens mentioned above, j\Ir. Rothschild 

 had three males and one female alive. The other six had died, 

 and a st'.iffed male and female were exhibited. Mr. Roth- 

 schild hoped to secure one more female, which had been 

 mounted, but the remaining two males and one female had 

 been destroyed. 



The habitat of the species was still unknown. 



The Hon. Walter Rothschild also exhibited specimens 

 of all the species of Pitta belonging to the red-bellied 

 section "g" of that genus in the 'Catalogue of Birds,' 

 excepting P. ccerulei torques, which he did not possess. He 

 observed : — 



" Of all these forms, Pitta rubrinuclia by its red nape, 

 P. kochi by its large siz.^, and P. dohcrtiji by its broad black 



n2 



