24i Mr. J. Whitehead 07i Birds 



the Bakbac speeinieii of P. propinqua in the British Museum, 

 collected by Mr. Everett^ the first glance justifies the correct- 

 ness of his remarks on the narrowness of the green tract; 

 but further examination shows that this narrowness is entirely 

 due to the make of the skin, the green feathers on the 

 shoulders having been drawn up into the neck, so that the 

 green appears to be of less extent than in other specimens. 



201. Pitta kochi Briiggeraann. (Grant, Ibis, 1895, 

 p. 457.) 



The rediscovery of this fine Pitta was one of the most 

 interesting results of my journey to the highlands of North 

 Luzon. In December 1894 we were collecting at 6000 feet, 

 where much of the forest on the mountain-sides was pine, the 

 ground below being quite open and covered with short grass. 

 At first sight such country would seem to be no place for 

 a Pitta, but here and there, in the deeper ravines, were thick 

 patches, often of considerable extent, of evergreen oaks, with 

 the ground below thickly covered with moss and an under- 

 growth of begonias and other plants. In these dark patches 

 of forest my hunters told me they had seen a " Leuco " 

 (which is the Tagalo name for a Pitta) with a bright red breast, 

 but somewhow they were always unfortunate, the Leuco 

 being too quick for them. Nearly a month passed, and 

 they were still unable to circumvent this supposed Leuco. 

 Towards the beginning of January, 1896, 1 resolved to attack 

 Monte Data, a great table-topped mountain, which I could 

 plainly see from the Igorroti village of Bagnin in which we 

 were living. In the wonderfully clear mountain atmos|)here 

 we could see not only that the summit of Data was drained 

 by two considerable streams, which fell over the rocky 

 precipitous side, but also that the mountain was well covered 

 with thick oak-growth, with only a few patches of pine here 

 and there. 



After two days' hard work we reached the base of Monte 

 Data, and the following morning I sent my boys to the 

 summit to build the framework for our canvas-roofed house. 

 When I had procured native porters on the following day, 



