24G Mr. W. Eagle Clarke on Birds 



203. Pitta steerii (Sharpe). (Grant, Ibis, 1897, p. 241.) 

 This Pitta (perhaps the most beautiful of the whole genus) 



was met with by us in the mountains of Central Samar. It 

 delights in a country covered with huge forest, a fairly thick 

 undergrowth, and the ground over which it hops a mass of 

 moss-covered coral -limestone boulders, often of huge dimen- 

 sions. The island of Gilolo, in which Pitta maxima is found, 

 is, according to Dr. Wallace, of much the same formation. 

 I myself was always ill in Samar, and was unable to do much 

 outdoor work ; but I once met with this Pitta in the forest, 

 although so close that I was unable to shoot it. The young 

 were fully fledged in June. This Pitta is called by the Bisayas 

 of Samar " Babaqua," and is said to be more numerous from 

 May to July in that island, so perhaps it is migratory. I 

 doubt whether this species inhabits Leite, as the country 

 traversed by us in that island was either a volcanic clay or 

 covered with boulders of lava, no coral-limestone cropping 

 out in the northern mountains. 



Iris and bill black ; feet light brown, pinkish at joints. 



Juv. Claws, tip of bill, and gape orange. 



204. Sarcophanops samakensis Steere. (Grant, Ibis, 

 1897, p. 242.) 



This curious bird is by no means common in Samar and 

 Leite, to which islands its distribution is probably confined. 

 It frequents thick forests, and the birds shot by us were 

 feeding on berries. 



The wonderful colouring of the soft parts was given by me 

 in the ' Ibis -" for 1897, p. 242. 



[To be contiuued.] 



XV. — Ushant as an Ornithological Station,. — Notes on the 

 Birds observed at Ushant, at Le Conquet on the west 

 coast of Brittany, and at Alderney. By William Eagle 

 Clarke, F.L.S. 



When studying the map of Western Europe in connection 

 with the geographical aspect of bird-migration, I became 

 impressed with the importance of the Island of Ushant as an 



