PITTA. 417 



to the rump. It is noticeable, further, that the cobalt and green hues 

 are much brighter than in any of the specimens from Luzon or Min- 

 danao, though it is no doubt very possible that this may be owing to 

 the freshness of the Balabac-Palawan skins. 



"I have, therefore, no longer any doubt that P. propinqua differs 

 sufficiently from P. erythrogastra to make it necessary that it should 

 be separated from the latter by the appropriate appellation which 

 Dr. Sharpe originally bestowed upon it. And in this case it will follow 

 that the locality 'Mindanao' given in the 'Catalogue of Birds' will require 

 correction, as, indeed, it would in any case, for the type was described 

 from Balabac." (Everett.)* 



381. PITTA KOCH I Bruggemann. 

 KOCH'S PITTA. 



Pitta kochi BRUGGEMANN, Abhandl. naturw. Ver. Bremen (1877), 65, pi. 3, 

 fig. 6; SCLATEB, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1888), 14, 433; GBANT, Ibis 

 (1895), 457; WHITEHEAD, Ibis (1899), 244 (habits); SHAEPE, Hand- 

 List (1901), 3, 182; McGREGOB and WORCESTEB, Hand-List (1906), 68. 



Erythropitta kochi, TWEEDDALE, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1878), 430, pi. 26. 

 Luzon (von Othberg, Whitehead) . 



"This species was based on a specimen in the Darmstadt Museum, of 

 which Mr. Gould gives the subjoined description : 



" 'General color above dull olive-brown, with somewhat of a ruddy 

 tint on the sides of the neck and mantle; wing-coverts lilac-gray, the 

 primary-coverts and quills blackish brown; the primaries externally 

 grayish towards their ends; the secondaries and inner greater coverts 

 olive-brown, washed with lilac-gray on the outer webs ; the second, third, 

 and fourth primaries with a large white spot on the inner web, the last- 

 named having the white spot on the outer web as well ; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail lilac-gray, the latter darker; forehead and crown, as well as the 

 lores, region of the eye, and ear-coverts dark brown, the latter slightly 

 shaded with an olive tinge; nape and hind neck dull red; cheeks ashy 

 brown, with a bluish shade under certain lights, forming a very broad 

 moustache; throat reddish in the center, brown on the sides, forming a 

 malar stripe; the fore neck red with a tinge of lilac; chest lilac-gray, 

 the sides olive-brown; remainder of under surface of body scarlet; the 

 sides olive-brown, with which 'color the center of the abdomen is washed; 

 under tail-coverts scarlet, the longer ones tipped and edged with lilac- 

 blue; thighs ashy gray; under wing-coverts dull lilac-blue, some of the 

 outer ones tipped with white; axillars olive-brown, like the back; quills 

 ashy brown below, relieved by the before-mentioned white spots on the 

 primaries. Length, 190, culmen, 30; wing, 119; tail, 56; tarsus, 53.' 



"The large size and dark brown ear-coverts are the distinguishing 

 features of this pitta." (Sclater.) 



* See also the remarks on Pitta propinqua under the next preceding species. 



