ON THE GENUS PITTA. 



331 



'' But such collections would require much time. Nevertheless they 

 are a desideratum ; and certainly they will be made at last. 

 The species in question are distributed as follows : — 



<« n 



'' Pitta forsteni-f 



Celebes. 



Borneo. 



Sangi. 



Negros^ 

 Luzon. 



■5f 



■jf 



•jf 



-5f 



Pitta millleri 



Pitta sanghivana 



Pitta sordida 





Mr. D. G. Elliot, in his article on the Pittid'de (Ibis, n. s., vol. vi. 1870, 

 p. 411), says : — 



"Pitta sanghirana, Schlegel, Ned. Tijd. Dierk. 1866, p. 190. 



" This bird is P. atricapilla, auctt., from Sanghir. Dr. Schlegel distin- 

 guishes it only by the green being darker and less bright, and the shoulders 

 and rump being of a darker blue and less silvery. These differences, which 



t [Named after Mr. E. A. Eorsten^ the Dutch naturalist^ who discovered Loriculus stigmatus. 

 He graduated at Ley den in 1836^ and then went to Java as a member of a Government Committee 

 of Natural History. Schlegel calls him Dr. Forsten^ which I suppose to be correct. In the year 

 1841 the Governor-General Merkus^ in Batavia^ sent him to North Celebes^ where he suffered a 

 good deal from illness^ and therefore could not pursue scientific researches as much as he wished. 

 He died on January 2nd, 1843, in Amboina. 



This gentleman first made known to us Pitta for steni, Miill., on Celebes, Megapodius forsteni, 

 Temm., and the very remarkable Meropogon forsteni, Temm. The latter bird has recently been 

 figured by Mr. Gould, in his ^ Birds of Asia,^ part xxv. Mr. Forsten discovered this fine Bee-eater 

 at Tondano, N. Celebes; and this single example remained a unique specimen, in the Leyden 

 Museum. Rosenberg and Mr. Wallace failed to procure it. Dr. Meyer, however, rediscovered it 

 in 1871, in the mountainous parts of Minahassa, as he writes to me. He only obtained a few ; and 

 it is still a very rare bird in collections. It is a frequent practice to describe a species without 

 any reference to the individual by whom it was discovered, and after whom it is named ; but it is 

 desirable to give every one his due credit. This is only just ; all should be served alike, small and 

 great.— G.D.R.] 



2y 2 



