120 Bulletin of the British 



of the bird; this was described by Mr. Haigh as disproportion- 

 ately loud, and it had led to the thorough beating-out of the 

 hedge in which the bird was skulking. It would be re- 

 membered that easterly winds had prevailed for a considerable 

 time. So far, L. sckwarzi seemed not to have been previously 

 recorded within the European area. [For a coloured figure 

 of the specimen, see supra, PI. I.] 



Mr. Haigh also exhibited a specimen of a yoiing female 

 of the Barred Warbler {Sylvia nisoria), which he had shot 

 near North Cotes on the 5th of September last. This was 

 the thirteenth example obtained in the British Islands. 



Mr, N. F. TicEHURST exhibited a Pectoral Sandpiper 

 {Tringa maculata) obtained between Lydd and Rye, in Kent, 

 on the 2nd of August, 1898. 



The Hon, Walter Rothschild sent a pair of a new Pitta, 

 which he described as follows : — 



Pitta meeki, sp. n. 



Superficially resembling the common P. mackloti from New 

 Guinea, from which, however, it differs in the absence of the 

 large black spot on the throat, which is only indicated by a 

 dusky shade, the paler and more greyish chin and upper 

 throat, the light brown (not deep rufous) hind-neck, and the 

 pale greyish-brown (not blackish) crown. 



Hab. Rossel Island, where Mr. Albert S. Meek has collected 

 a small series. 



Mr. Rothschild also sent for exhibition a skin of the rare 

 Pitta novce-hiberniee, Ramsay. This species had been long ago 

 described by Dr. Ramsay and the differences from P. mackloti 

 had been stated in the original description. Count Salvadori 

 afterwards expressed an opinion that it was the same as 

 P. mackloti, because he had seen specimens from New Britain 

 which did not differ from P. mackloti — evidently in the belief 

 that the ornis of New Ireland was the same as that of New 

 Britain. Now Captain Cayley Webster had sent a series of 



