PITTA OREAS. 
SWINHOE'S PITTA. 
Pitta oreas, Swinh. Ibis, 1864, p. 428 (Formosa).—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, р. 678 (Takow); 1871, 
p- 375.—Elliot, Ibis, 1870, p. 408.—Gould, В. Asia, vol. v. pl. 65.—Dav. & Oust. Ois. Chine, texte, 
1877, p. 145. 
Brachyurus oreas, Elliot, Ibis, 1870, p. 415, pl. xiii. fig. 1 (ex type). 
Pitta nympha (nec Schleg.), Swinh. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 730 (Province of Chefoo).—Sclat. Cat. B. 
vol. xiv. 1888, p. 425 (partim).—Styan, Ibis, 1891, pp. 324, 359 (Tungsha Lightship, Shanghai) ? 
HanrrAT.— Formosa, Eastern China (Swinhoe).—Shanghai ? (Styan). 
Centre of crown and broad stripe from base of bill, covering sides of head to nape, black; sides of crown 
dull reddish-brown ; superciliary stripe yellowish-buff; back and scapulars green, with black arrow- 
shaped markings; lesser wing- and upper tail-coverts verditer-blue ; greater wing-coverts and 
tertials green, with a bluish tinge, black on inner webs; primaries black, with a white speculum, 
extending over first seven feathers; axillaries black. Tail black, tipped with greyish-green. Chin 
and throat white. Underparts deep buff, washed with green on the flanks. Centre of belly and under 
tail-coverts carmine. Bill brownish-black ; feet and tarsi flesh-colour. Length 8 inches, wing 5, 
tail 13, culmen 1, tarsus 14. (Description ex type.) 
Mr. Swinhoe first obtained this species from the mountains of Formosa, and stated it 
was allied to P. cyanoptera (P. moluccensis, Müll.) and to P. nympha, but distinguished 
from the former by its reddish crown, and from the deter by the colour of the crown and 
black chin. Mr. Swinhoe kindly loaned the type to me, and in my review of the Family 
in the ‘ Ibis,’ 1870, I stated that I considered it to be a distinct species, most nearly allied 
to P. brachyura (Linn.) of the present Monograph (miscalled В. coronatus, Müll, in the 
review) ; but differed from that bird in the colour of the crown and in its entirely black 
axillares, and from P. nympha in the characters mentioned above. 
From the Province of Chefoo, China, Mr. Swinhoe subsequently obtained another 
specimen, which he mistook for P. nympha. Не states that on the 13th August, 1873, a 
live Pitta was brought to him in a cage, said to have been taken in the Province of Chefoo, 
and whieh had evidently been long a captive, as the mandible had outgrown the maxilla, 
and the bird had all the appearance of a prisoner. It answered well to Schlegel's 
description in the * Fauna Japonica’ of Pitta nympha, except its chin was as white as the 
crescentic throat-band. It also lacked the white crescent on its black axillaries, and seemed 
to “have its nearest ally in P. oreas of Formosa.” It fed greedily on grasshoppers, and 
had a wailing cry like that of a puppy in distress. 
From its white chin and black axillaries, this was doubtless only a specimen of P. oreas. 
Of the Formosan example, Mr. Swinhoe remarks, as published in Gould’s ‘ Birds of 
Asia,’ l. е., that the type was from the mountains of Tamsui in the north-western part of 
the island, and the back and wing-coverts were “ sprinkled with arrow-shaped markings of 
black.” This bird was shot in May, and he imagined these black spots indicated the 
