THE BLUE PITTA. 
419 
has been described^ the whole upper plumage is like that of the male ; 
lower tail-coverts black tipped with dull blue ; primaries and secondaries 
dull brown ; tail as in the male. 
Bill black ; iris dark brown ; eyelids black ; gape whitish ; legs and claws 
fleshy white. {Davison.) 
Length 8'5 inches^ tail2'2j wing 4*1^ tarsus I'd, bill from gape 1*1. The 
female is somewhat smaller. 
This beautiful species was discovered by Mr. Davison in the most 
southerly part of Tenasserim. It inhabits the evergreen forests, and, like 
many other Pittas, appears to be to some extent migratory. Mr. Davison 
observed them from February to July ; my own collectors procured a few 
specimens at Malewoon in the early part of the year. 
It has been procured at Tonka, but is not yet known to occur in any 
other part of the Malay peninsula. 
Pitta ellioti, Oustalet, from Cochin China, appears to belong to the 
genus Eucichla, but I have not been able to examine a specimen. It will 
probably be found to occur in Tenasserim. The crown of the head and 
crest are emerald-blue ; the back and the tail ultramarine ; the throat 
blue ; the breast ashy green ; a deep violet-blue band runs down the centre 
of the abdomen, and the sides of the body are yellow banded with black. 
390. EUCICHLA CYANEA. 
THE BLUE PITTA. 
Pitta cyanea, Bl J. A. S. B. xii. p. 1008 ; Hume ^ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 238 ; Humey 
S. F. viii. p. 93 ; Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 473. Brachyurus cyaneus, Elliot, 
Mon. Pitt. pi. xiii. ; id. Ibis, 1870, p. 413 ; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 104 j Bl. B. Burm. 
p. 98. 
Description. — Male. The lores and a broad streak from the eye over the 
ear-coverts to the nape black; the forehead and head greenish grey, 
changing to red on the crown, and giving place entirely to red on the nape, 
where the feathers are long and form a crest ; a black streak from the 
bill, over the centre of the crown, to the nape ; the whole upper plumage 
and tail blue ; quills of the wing brown, with a white patch at their bases ; 
cheeks and ear- coverts fulvous ; below these a black moustachial stripe; 
chin and throat whitish mottled with black ; remainder of lower plumage 
light blue barred with black, and the breast washed with yellow ; the abdo- 
men and lower tail-coverts paler blue and barely barred at all. 
Female. Differs from the male in having the upper plumage brown 
2e2 
