416 MANUAL OP PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



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. pro- 

 pinqua, the Mindanao bird being typical P. erythrogastra." (Grant. > 



380. PITTA PROPINQUA (Sharpe). 

 PALAWAN PITTA. 



Brachyurus propinquus SHARPE, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 



330. 

 Pitta propinqua SCLATEB, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1888), 14, 433; EVERETT, 



Ibis (1895), 28; SHARPE, Hand-List (1901), 3, 182; MCGREGOR and 



WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 68. 



Balabac (Steere, Everett) ; Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Bourns <& Wot' 

 Everett). 



Adult. "Back entirely cobalt, including the scapulars; only the 

 middle of the back green washed with blue, forming a band across the 

 back ; throat entirely brownish black, becoming jet-black on the fore neck ; 

 chest bright blue, the sides only greenish ; under wing-coverts dull blue." 

 (Sharpe.) 



"Dr. Sharpe founded his Brachyurus propinquus on an adult male 

 bird obtained by Dr. Steere in Balabac. Dr. Steere obtained a second 

 specimen of a red-bellied pitta, also a male, but in very immature 

 plumage, at Dumalon, near Zamboanga, in Mindanao, and this bird 

 Dr. Sharpe assigned also to be B. propinquus, though not without limi- 

 tation. Owing to the meager material available, the validity of this 

 species has always been open to question; and hence I made a point of 

 securing a series of these red-bellied pittas from Balabac and Palawan, 

 .with the result that it has at length become possible to compare adult 

 birds from Balabac with adult birds from Luzon, Mindanao, and Palawan. 



"The characters relied upon by Dr. Sharpe as distinguishing P. pro- 

 pinqua from typical P. erythrogastra were: (1) Back entirely cobalt, 

 including the scapulars; only the middle of the back green, washed 

 with blue, forming a band across the back. (2) Throat entirely brownish 

 black, becoming jet-black on the fore neck. (3) Chest bright blue, tin- 

 sides only greenish. (4) Under wing-coverts dull blue, instead of 

 grayish brown. 



"Of these characters the last three appear to be of n<> value, as birds 

 from Luzon and Mindanao present them in greater or less degree, and 

 I have come to the conclusion that they belong to the fully-adult birds, 

 from whatever locality. But on viewing the upper surfaces of a series 

 of Balabac-Palawan specimens side by side with a series of Luzon- 

 Mindanao birds, the first mentioned character is at once seen to be a 

 good one, the green tract on the back of the former series forming a 

 comparatively narrow band, whereas in the latter series it extends nearly 



