ea Le ee 
—- 
ae 
See a ae 
PITTA. 421 
Sclater says: “It is impossible to mistake this noble species, distin- 
guished at once by its pure white throat and silvery blue under surface.” 
“The plumage of some of the young birds, being in an interesting 
stage of transition, is worth describing. The youngest example, a male, 
has the upper parts and wings like those of the adult, but the breast, 
sides, and flanks are of a dirty, grayish olive, only one or two of the 
silver-blue feathers being visible, and the entire middle of the breast 
and belly are pale scarlet. A rather older bird is similar to the above, 
but down the sides and middle of the breast are three lines of pale blue 
feathers. In both specimens these are being attained by molt. In the 
middle of the breast a tuft of the black adult feathers is making its 
“appearance amongst the red, and some of the latter appear to be turning 
black without a molt. *  *) FY? (Grant.) 
Steere’s pitta is by no means common in any of the islands where 
it has been found. In Bohol it was collected in forests of small trees 
growing on coral-limestone hills and Whitehead found the species on 
similar ground in Samar. 
386. PITTA MOLUCCENSIS (P. L. 8. Miiller). 
BLUE-WINGED PITTA, 
Turdus moluccensis P. L. S. MULLER, Natursyst. Suppl. (1776), 144. 
Pitta cyanoptera TEMMINCK, Pl. Col. (1823), 218; Sctatrer, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus. (1888), 14, 420; Hume, Oates ed. Nests & Eggs Ind. Bds. (1890), 
2, 283; SHARPE, Hand-List (1901), 3, 180. 
Pitia fastosa McGrecor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 286. 
Basilan (Celestino). Burma, Siam, Cambodia, southern China, Malay Penin- 
sula, Borneo. 
Adult (sexes alike).—Sides of head including lores, cheeks, supercilia, 
and ear-coverts black, connected by a wide black collar; wide vertical 
stripe black, bordered on each side by a wide stripe of fulvous brown, 
the feathers edged with pale buff on exterior webs; back, scapulars, and 
tertials dark green; rump, upper tail-coverts, and lesser and median 
wing-coverts bright ultramarine-blue; chin black; throat white; lower 
throat, breast, abdomen, and flanks ruddy buff, most intense on breast; 
vent, under tail-coverts, and middle of abdomen bright red; tail black, 
tipped with dull blue; primaries black, each father with a white patch, 
mesial and smallest on first, reaching tip on seventh; secondaries black, 
edged with dull blue on terminal half; alula, primary-coverts, axillars, 
and wing-lining black. A male measures: Wing, 119; tail, 38; culmen 
from base, 26; bill from nostril, 17; tarsus, 39. A female from Basilan 
(type of Pitta fastosa) measures: Length in flesh, 190; wing, 117; tail, 
40; culmen from base, 28; bill from nostril, 18; tarsus, 36. 
The type of Pitta istoss McGregor proves to be a specimen of P. 
moluceensis. This species is migratory. 
