Birds of the Philippine Islands. 121 



35. Pitta atkicapilla, Less.; Grant^ Ibis, 1895, p. 112. 



The Philippine Black-headed Pitta has the plumage abso- 

 lutely similar in the adult male and female ; a nearly adult 

 male has a white spot on each side of the throat. 



36. Pitta erythrogastra, Temm.; Sclater, Cat. B. Brit. 

 Mus. xiv. p. 432 (1888) ; Whitehead, Ibis, 1893, p. 504. 



Nearly mature males of this Red-bellied Pitta were col- 

 lected near Cape Engaiio. Mr. Whitehead is of opinion (Ibis, 

 1893, p. 505) that Pitta propinqua, Sharpe, is not specifically 

 distinct from the present species. The type of P. propinqua 

 came from the island of Balabac, and since Mr. Whitehead 

 examined the British Museum series we have obtained, 

 through Mr. Everett, an adult male from the typical locality. 

 This bird agrees perfectly with Dr. Sharpe's original de- 

 scription (Trans. Linn. Soc. (2) i. p. 330, 1877), and difi'ers 

 much from typical examples of P. erythrogastra. It must, 

 however, be stated that both forms were found by Mr. White- 

 head in the island of Palawan, one of his specimens being 

 almost typical P. propinqua, and, given a larger series, we 

 should probably find that the two forms pass more or less 

 one into the other in Palawan. Still P. propinqua is a very 

 well-marked insular form, and I consider Dr. Sharpe fully 

 justified in regarding it as distinct. Both he and Dr. Sclater 

 are certainly mistaken, however, in regarding the '' ^ juv. 

 Dumalon, Mindanao,^' collected by Prof. Steere, as the young 

 of P. propinqua, the Mindanao bird being typical P. erythro- 

 gastra. 



37. Caprimulgus manillensis, G. R. Gray; Grant, Ibis, 

 1895, p. 462. 



A male of the Manilla Nightjar from the vicinity of Cape 

 Engano has the ends of the outer pair of tail-feathers simi- 

 larly coloured to those of the male mentioned in the last 

 collection. 



38. Batrachostomus microrhynchus, Grant, Ibis, 1895, 

 p. 463. 



Another male of the Luzon Frog-mouth has been forwarded 

 from the Engano district ; it is an interesting specimen in 



