PITTA MEFOORANA. 
MEFOOR ISLAND PITTA. 
Pitta nove-guinee méfoorana, Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bas, Pitta, 1874, p. 8 (Méfoor Island, Baie de Geelvink).— 
Meyer in Козу]. Orn. Misc. vol. ii. 1877, p. 268. 
Pitta mafoerana, Beccari, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vol. vii. 1875, p. 709. 
Pitta maforeana, Beccari, Ibis, 1876, p. 248. 
Pitta mayforeana, Legge, B. Ceylon, 1879, p. 689. 
Pitta mafoorana, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vol. xvi. 1880, p. 184. sp. 3.—Id. Ornit. Papuas. vol. ii. 1881, 
р. 386.—Sclat. Cat. В. vol. xiv. 1888, p. 441.—Whitehead, Ibis, 1893, p. 500. 
Pitta maforensis, Gould, B. N. Guin. vol. iv. pl. 33. 
HanrTAT.—Méfoor Island, Bay of Geelvink, New Guinea. 
Head and neck all round black, narrowly bordered on lower edge with pale glistening green ; back 
and wings dark green; lesser wing-coverts and a bar across the rump metallic greenish-white. 
Primaries black, brownish at the tips. Large upper tail-coverts black, edged with blue; smaller 
ones metallic greenish-white. Tail black tipped with grass-green ; breast glistening yellowish-green, 
graduating into deep blue on the flanks. Centre of abdomen and under tail-coverts deep red. Length 
6 inches, wing 54, tail 14, tarsus 13. 
This bird was first deseribed by Schlegel, /. e., from specimens received from Von 
Rosenberg, who procured them on the island of Méfoor, in the Bay of Geelvink, New 
Guinea. Its nearest ally is Pitta atricapilla, Quoy and Gaimard, but it differs from that 
species in having an apical bluish-green band on the rectrices, in the long upper tail- 
coverts being black edged with blue, the smaller ones metallic greenish-white, and in having 
the blue on the abdomen much darker. The quills also are without any white spots. 
It is a rare bird in collections, and we have no knowledge of its economy or habits. 
The island in the Bay of Geelvink from which this species takes its name is spelt in 
Stieler's Atlas “ Méfoor ” and “ Mafoor,” as though either was correct. Schlegel adopted 
the first and called the bird P. n.-g. méfoorana ; and as this is the way the name is spelt 
on Stieler’s larger map, I have followed Schlegel. It will be seen, by a glance at the 
list of synonyms, what liberties have been taken by different authors in the orthography 
of this island’s name. 
Among tlie characters given by Schlegel for this species is, the black primaries without 
any white speculum. Salvadori, Ornit. Papuas. /. e., takes exception to this, because two 
individuals in his possession had a slight trace of white on the fourth and fifth quills near the 
shaft. This doubtless is individual variation, or possibly due to age, Salvadori’s specimen 
not being so old as the type, just as is witnessed in some specimens of P. atricapilla, 
Quoy & Gaim., from Wanumbai, which have no white speculum, while examples of the 
same species from other localities exhibit it. The type of P. méfoorana had all black 
primaries, and it cannot be said that this is not a character of the species until it is shown 
that the majority of specimens possess a white speculum, any more than we can say 
that the same mark is not a character of P. atricapilla, Quoy & Gaim., because we find 
examples without it. 
