688 PITTA COKONATA. 



Butler & Hume, ibid. 1875, p. 470; Fairbank, ibid. 1876, p. 257; Bill, ibid. 1877, 

 p. 416. 



Madras Jay, Ray ; Bengal Quail, Albin ; Short-tailed Pye, Edwards, Birds, pi. 324 ; Ant- 

 Thrush, Painted Thrush of Europeans; The Indian Ground-Thrush, Yellow-breasted 

 Ground-Thrush of Indian writers. Nourang, lit. ""Nine-coloured bird," Hind. ; 

 Shumcha, Beng. ; Porta inki, Telugu ; Tota-collan, lit. " Garden Thief," Tamil, apud 

 Layard ; Ara Hani kuruvi, Coolies on coffee-estates (lit. " Six o'clock bird "). 



AvitcMa, Sinhalese (from its cry) ; Ayittd, N.W. Province. 



Adult male and female. Length 0-5 to 7"0 inches; wing 4*1 to 4-2; tail 1-5 to 1*7 ; tarsus L35 to L43; middle toe 

 and claw 1-1 ; hind toe and claw 07; bill to gape 1*05 to 1*1. 



Iris brown, variable in depth ; bill orange-reddish along the ridge and on basal half of lower mandible, with the sides 

 of both mandibles towards the tip dusky brown ; legs and feet flesh-colour or pale reddish grey ; toes in some 

 specimens brownish at the joints. 



Lores, cheeks, hind neck, back of head, and a broad stripe running forward to the forehead and skirting the nostril, 

 primaries, secondaries, the inner webs of tertials, primary and under wing-coverts, under surface of wings and 

 tail black ; chin, throat, a patch below the eye, and a superciliary stripe while, the latter is surmounted by a 

 broad band of yellowish brown commencing at the nostril and running back with it to the back of the neck, where 

 they both overlie the black feathers ; a white band across the quills commencing on the inner web of 1st primary 

 and ending on the outer web of the 7th; tips of the primaries smoky grey, those of the secondaries white, the 

 outer portion of the latter feathers and the terminal parts of the greater wing-coverts greenish blue ; median wing- 

 coverts, outer webs and tips of tertials, scapulars, and back leaf-green ; the back more or less washed with brownish 

 on its upper part ; least wing-coverts and upper tail-coverts brilliant turquoise-blue ; tips of tail-feathers greenish 

 blue ; beneath from the throat fawn-colour, the flanks somewhat dusky ; lower part of belly, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts scarlet. 



()!>s. Some females appear to have the scarlet less bright than the males, and the lack shaded with brown. Variations, 

 however, occur in the plumage of both sexes, probably dependent on age, and consist in the greater or less breadth 

 of the white wing-bar, in the brilliancy of the upper tail-coverts, and in the amount of white at the tips of the 

 secondaries, Some examples, which appear to be immature, have the white feathers at the side of the throat 

 tipped with brownish. 



Indian specimens I have examined are similar in size and colouring to those which visit Ceylon. An example, 

 however, from Nepal measures 4 - 5 inches in the wing, being somewhat larger than our birds. There are some 

 allied species in the green-backed, fulvous-breasted group to which our bird belongs, and among them P. oreas, 

 Swinh., from Formosa, is, according to Elliot, the nearest to P. coronata. It is distinguished from this latter by 

 having the crown dull reddish brown and the under wing-coverts jet-black, " without any trace of the white 

 feathers which form so conspicuous a mark in its ally " : wing 5-0 inches. Pitta moluccensis, Midler, from the 

 countries on the east of the Bay of Bengal, likewise belongs to this group ; but is a handsomer bird, having the 

 beautiful lazuline-blue wing and upper tail-covert patches larger, the brown of the head is darker, and the black 

 of the face runs past the gape upon the chin : wing 4 - 7 to 4-8 inches. Pitta megarhyncha, Schlegel, is allied to 

 the last, and inhabits likewise the province of Tenasserim. I have not had the opportunity of examining 

 specimens ; but Elliot remarks that, in addition to having a black bill, " the reddish brown of the head extends to 

 the nape without being broken by a black bar." 



Another group of Pittas is characterized by their green under surface, and another (Melanopitta) by having portions 

 of the plumage, especially the head and throat, black, to which latter Mr. Hume's beautiful new species, P.gumeyi, 

 from Tenasserim, appears to belong. 



This singular group of birds, characterized by a more beautiful plumage than is to be found in any series of Passerine 

 birds, save perhaps the Sun-birds, is essentially a Malayo-Asian family. Mr. Elliot, in his synopsis of the 

 family (Ibis, 1870, p. 408), gives a list of 32 species as then known to or recognized by him. Subsequently 

 others have been described, and some which he combined together under one title are now fouud to be 

 di.itinct from one another. The following table will show what a large proportion of species is found in 

 the Malay archipelago: — 



