xxi INTRODUCTION. 
Subregion, Z. ellioti and P. soror, the latter at Saigon, have been obtained, and in Formosa, 
of the same Subregion, P. oreas is met with, and this species is also found on the eastern 
coast of China as far as Shanghai, perhaps migrating into Corea; and in Southern China 
P. moluccensis has been procured at Amoy. Besides the species already given, the Malay 
Peninsula possesses £. boschi, found at Mt. Ophir, Malacca, &c. Of the Indo-Malay 
islands, Sumatra contains five species—P. venusta, peculiar to it, P. cerulea, Р. da, 
P. moluccensis, and E. boschi; and the island of Bangka, in addition to the two species 
already mentioned, has Р. sordida. Java contains but one species, P. guaiana, peculiar to 
itself, and doubtfully P. moluecensis, based solely on a specimen procured on that island, as 
stated by Temminck, and deposited in the Paris Museum. The great island of Borneo is rich 
in species of this Family. Nine are already known to inhabit it, of which five are not found 
elsewhere, viz. —P. arcuata, P. baudi, P. ussheri, P. granatina borneensis, and K. schwanert. 
The other four are Р. cerulea, P. sordida, Р. moluccensis, and Р. nympha. Doubtless other 
species of Pitta still remain undiscovered in the unexplored regions of this large island. 
The Philippine Archipelago contains five species, of which three are peculiar to these 
islands and one, P. moluccensis, is doubtful, a single example having been taken at sea off 
Luzon. The others are Р. kocki, P. propinqua, P. steeri, and Р. sordida. The first-named 
18 only found on Luzon, the most northern of the islands, which also contains P. sordida 
and P. erythrogastra. Palawan, the most westerly island, possesses also the two last-named, 
and on the small island of Balabac, at the southern end of Palawan, P. propinqua is met 
with. On Samar to the east, P. steeri is found ; while Negros and Camiguin contain 
P. sordida. The large southern island, Mindanao, has P. erythrogastra, P. sordida, and 
P. steerii; and Basilan, just south, contains the first two of those last named. It will thus 
be seen that P. sordida is found on all the islands but two of those known to contain 
Pitta, P. erythrogastra on four, P. steerü on two, and only Luzon and Balabac possess 
species not found, so far as is now known, elsewhere in this Archipelago *. 
The Australian Region is next to be considered ; and in the Austro-Malayan Subregion 
the first group of islands to claim our attention is the Sula, which has two species— 
P. coronata, obtained on Sula-Mangola and Sula-Bessie, and P. erythrogastra, on Bongao 
and Sibutu. Celebes, which, although it might be considered more appropriately placed 
in the Oriental Region—it is at best debatable land, — contains but two species of Pitta, 
both of which are peculiar to it, Р. celebensis and P. forsteni. Of the Moluccas, the most 
northerly, the Sanghirs, have but three species—P. cæruleitorques on Petta and Grand 
Sanghir, the last-named containing also P. sordida, while P. palliceps is found on Siao. 
On Halmahera are two species—P. maxima, one of the finest of the Family, and 
P. rufiventris, the latter being also a native of Motir, Batchian, Dammar, and Great 
Obi, lying to the west and south. On Dammar P. coronata is also found. Ternate 
on the west contains P. coronata and P. cyanonota, while the last is found also in the 
* In Kabruang and Salibabu, islands of the Talaut Group lying to the south-east of Mindanao, Pitta inspeculata is found. 
This species has been only recently described—too late, indeed, to occupy its proper position in the text, as the Introduction 
was printed before the publication advising its discovery was received. 
ZEN 
