Birds of Celebes : Pittidae. 
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schweig. Anzeigen” (newspaper!), 3. Marz 1886; (5) Sclat., Oat. B. XIV, 1888, 420; 
(6) Sharpe, Ibis 1889, 442; (7) Whitehead, 1. c. notes; (8) Everett, J. Str. Br. 
E. A. Soc. 1889, 147; (9) Sharpe, ih. 1890, 281; (10) Oates, ed. Hume’s Xests 
& Eggs Ind. B. 1890, H, 283; (11) Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind. B. II, 1890, 392; (12) Hose, 
Ibis 1893, 403; (13) Whitehead, t. c. 494; (14) Sharpe, Ibis 1894, 421, 544. 
a. Braehyurus cyanopterus (I) Elliot, Mon. Pitt. 1863, pi. IV. 
b. Pitta moluccensis. /ij Oates, Str. F. V, 1877, 149; (2) David & Oust, Ois. Chine 1877, 
144; (3) Hume & Davis., Str. E. VI, 1878, 240; (4) Oates, B. Brit Burmah 
1883, I, 415. 
For synonymy and further references see Salvador! 5; Sclater 5. 
Figures and descriptions. Temminck J; Schlegel iJ; Elliot a I] David & Oustalet h 4, 
77; Sclater 5. 
Adult. Head above isabella-colour, with a black vertical stripe; face, sides of head, and 
neck black; hack, scapulars and inner quills olive-green variable in different 
lights; upper wing- and tail-coverts glossy intense campanula-blue; bastard wing 
and secondaries black, the latter edged with bluish; primaries white, their bases 
and the ends of the outer ones black; tail black, tipped with bluish; throat white; 
under parts cinnamon-huff; middle of abdomen scarlet, paler on under tail- 
coverts; under wing-coverts black (Baram, X.W. Borneo, Xr. 13305). Iris black; 
hill dark brown; legs pale pink (Whitehead 7). 
Sexes. Said to be similar. 
Young. They have the coronal streak broader, and the feathers of the crown are narrowly 
margined with black; wing-coverts dull blue, the other parts less bright than in the 
adult (Oates 77). 
Eggs. “Both the eggs in my collection were collected by Oates in Pegu. They belong to 
two different clutches, of which the two fellow specimens were in the former See- 
hohm collection (now British Museum). The larger example measures 30 X 22.5 mm, 
has a white ground, with washy lilac-grey subjacent, and a few small dark brown 
superjacent spots. The eggs have resemblance with those of Chibia hottentotta, 
brevirostris and laemosticta. Xr. 2 is considerably smaller and measures 26 X 21 mm. 
The large brown surface sj)ots are vermiform and evenly distributed over the whole 
egg. Dates: Xr. 1, June 27*'’', 1877; Xr. 2, June 20^**, 1878” (Xehrkorn MS.). 
Hume (b 1) describes the eggs as “far more thickly marked and richly coloured 
than those of any other Ground Thrushes with which I am acquainted”. Davison 
found as many as 6 in a nest; Oates says 4 — 6. 
Nest. A huge structure of sticks, leaves and roots, bound together with earth, placed on 
the ground in an open place or against the root of a tree; globular in shape, the 
entrance at one side close to the ground (Oates b 4). 
Distribution. Arakan (Blyth 5, Oates b 4)\ Pegu (Oates b 4)] Tenasserim (Beavan 5, 
Davison b 5); Corea (David b 2)\ South China (Swinhoe 5, David b 2); Siam and 
Cambodia (Brit. Mus. 5); Malay Peninsula (Moore, Wallace 5, etc.); Sumatra 
(Baffles etc. 5); Borneo (Whitehead, etc. S); Celebes — Minahassa (Platen 4); 
?Java (Temm. 5, Elliot 5); ? Luzon (Mus. Turin 5). 
This Pitta is a migrant; there is, therefore, nothing very surprising in the 
discovery of an example at Eurukan in the Minahassa by Dr. Platen in 1884 — 85. 
Burmah and Tenasserim are known as its breeding-grounds, from where it dis- 
appears, except from S. Tenasserim, in the winter or dry season (cf. Davison b 3, 
Oates 5 Hume b 1). On Tega Island, Borneo, Mr. John 'Whitehead 
Meyer & Wiglesworth Birds of Celebes (Nov. Si'd, 1897). 
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