PITTA MEGARHYNCHA. 
LARGE BLUE-WINGED PITTA. 
Pitta megarhyncha, Schleg. Vog. Ned. Ind., Pitta, 1863, p. 11, pl. 4. fig. 2 (Bangka).—Id. Mus. P 
1863, p. 9; 1874, p. 16 (Bangka). 
1878, p. 242 (Tenasserim).—Hume, Str. Feath. vol. ҮШ. 1879, p. 94.—Oates, Str. Feath. v 
1882, p. 205. по. 190 (Pegu).—Id. B. Brit. Burm. vol. i. 
pl. 70.—Sclat. Cat. B. vol. xiv. 1888, p. 421. 
Brachyurus megarhynchus, Elliot, Ibis, 1870, p. 414. no. 6, pL sm 
p- 475 (Tenasserim).—Blyth, B. Burm. 1875, p. 98. 
1883, p. 416.—Gould, B. Asia, vol. v. 
(ex type).—Hume, Str. Feath. vol. ii. 1874, 
Hasirat.—Pegu, Tenasserim, and Malay Peninsula ; Island of Bangka (Vosmaer). 
Top of head and nape reddish brown, bordered beneath with a narrow 
black band on the паре; а broad 
black band from nostrils, through the eye, to nape, 
beneath the reddish brown; back and wings 
dark green; lower rump and upper tail-coverts shining blue. 
Lesser and median wing-coverts shining blue ; 
both w 
Tail black, tipped with green. 
primaries black, crossed by a broad white bar covering 
ebs of all but the Ist, and reaching to the tip onthe 7th and 8th. Throat white, sides 
of neck fulvous; beneath deep buff, shaded with green on sides of breast: 
; centre of abdomen and 
lower tail-coverts crimson. Bill very long, culmen straight, black; feet dark fleshy; iris deep 
brown. Length 9:12 inches, wing 4:75, tarsus 1:62 ; bill from gape 1:62, at front 1:5. Weight 4 ounces. 
(Davison, from a fresh specimen. ) 
This Pitta has been confounded with P. moluccensis, and it was 
not until Schlegel 
described it, I. e., 
that it obtained recognition as a distinet form. Mr. Davison 
procured it in Tenasserim, having shot it at Tavoy, Amherst, and 
south of Mergui, 
and he saw a specimen in Lieut. Raikes’s collection, obtained in the Delta of the 
Irrawaddy, and also in Mr. A. L. Hough’s collection in Malewoon. Mr. Oates believes 
that it is doubtless distributed over the whole of Burmah, but it is rare in comparison 
with P. moluccensis. He procured two specimens at Pahpoon in the Irrawaddy Delta, 
and Mr. Blyth mentions having received а large-billed variety of Р. moluccensis from 
Arrakan. In the ‘ Birds of Burmah ’ he states that this specimen has the bill fully as large 
as in P. megarhyncha, Schlegel, from the island of Bangka, and it undoubtedly 
individual of this species. 
was an 
In its habits and the localities it frequents this Pitta 
resembles its near relative above mentioned. Although probably migratory in a 
great portion of Burmah, according to Oates, it may, however, be a resident in the 
extreme south of Tenasserim, as his men shot a specimen at Malewoon on the 12th 
J anuary. 
In appearance this species greatly resembles P. moluccensis, but differs in the large 
black bill; and the top of the head, occiput, and nape are reddish brown, without 
the central black bar so conspicuous in its ally, and the black on the side of the head 
is narrower. It is also a larger bird generally, 
Some specimens measured by Davison in the flesh gave the following dimensions :— 
ays-B. 
—Elliot, Ibis, 1870, р. 409.—Hume & Dav. Str. Feath. vol. vi. 
ol. x. 
