Birds of Celebes: Pittidae. 
349 
also Moluccan , specimens generally have none of the speculum on the second 
quill, but on the and 5*^; thirdly that Celebesian and Philippine speci- 
mens generally have none of the speculum on the 5*’" quill, hut on the 2^^ 
3^^ and 4^^. As several exceptions to this rule are shown above, a few Papuan 
specimens having the speculum commencing on the second quill, as in Celebes 
birds, and a few Celebes birds having it carried on as far as the fifth quill, as 
in Papuan ones, we must, apparently, infer that the speculum, was originally, 
larger than at present and embraced a part of the 2“'^, 3’^^, 4^^, S*’' and, judging 
from Nr. 5, 6*^ quills; and that on the 6*^ it is now almost entirely lost, while 
Papuan birds have further lost it almost for good on the 2*'^, and Celebes and 
Philippine ones on the It appears likely enough that at one time the 
white was more extended, for the speculum appears almost throughout the 
varied genus Pitta ^ and in some forms, such as P. sangirana and P. cganoptera 
(members of different groups), the white occupies the whole of the ten prima- 
ries except the basal portion and ends of the feathers and inner web of the 
tenth. In other species, such as the beautiful P. granatma and ussheri of Borneo 
and P. forsteni of Celebes, the speculum has completely disappeared. 
Some species, as Mr. Whitehead remarks, have increased the amount of 
white on the primaries, at least in P. atricapilla^ muelleri and sangirana it is more 
extended in the adult than in the young. 
The adult P. caeruleitorques of Sangi seems to have lost it on both the 2"*^ 
and 5*^, while in the adult P. inspeculata of Talaut it is found only as a small 
spot on the fourth quill or is entirely wanting on all of them. In one imma- 
ture P. inspeculata a moderate speculum still makes its appearance, and in the 
immature palliceps and caeruleitorques it seems to be a good deal more extended 
than in the adult; this is not the case in immature Papuan specimens. — It 
seems certain that there once existed in the Bed Pittas and in many of their 
fellows, and, apparently, still exists, a tendency to lose the white speculum; 
but what causes set the process of obliteration at work must be a matter of 
conjecture. We believe, however, from the existence of volcanoes there, that 
Sangi and Talaut are not fragments of a former continent, but have been 
upheaved from the sea, and therefore colonised by flight, or through the agency 
of winds or sea-currents; and when Pitta got there, it is perhaps more likely 
that it would vary than if it had stayed at home, and the obliterating process 
of the speculum, if nearly latent before, might be brought to greater activity. 
It is possible that a melanising influence exists in Talaut, but this is very 
doubtful. The Talaut Oriolus is melanotic, and the Dicaeum is darker than its 
nearest allies. On the other hand the black borders on the wing of the Eos 
are narrower than in Sangi. 
Pitta cyanonota Temm. Two specimens of this species of Ternate and 
Guebeh purporting to have come from Celebes are in the British Museum, but 
