IRIDIPITTA BAUDII. 
Red-backed Pitta. 
Pitta haudii, Miill. & Schleg. Verb, natuurl. Gesch., fol., Zool. Pitta, pp. 10-20, pi. 2 (1839-44).— Gray, Gen. 
B. i.p. 243 (1846),— Low, Sarawak, p. 410 (1848).— Sclil. Handl. Dierk. i. p. 253 (1857).— Id. Vog. 
Nederl. Ind., Pitta, pi. 5, figs. 1 & 2 (1863).— Id. Mus. Pays-Bas, Pitta, p. 5. (1863).— Wall. Ibis, 
1864, p. 107.— Gray, Hand-list of Birds, i. p. 296, no. 4374.— Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 243, no. 254.— 
Gould, Birds of Asia, part xxix. (1877). 
Brackjurus baudii, Bp. Consp, i. p. 255 (1850).— Elliot, Monogr. Pittidse, pi. xxii. (1863).— Id. Ibis, 1870, p. 419. 
Iridipitta baudii. Bp. Consp. Volucr. Anisod. p. 7 (1854). 
This is a very rare bird in collections, and, as far as we know at present, is confined to the northern part 
of the island of Borneo. Thus the female example figured in the Plate was the first adidt bird of that 
sex ever procured, having been obtained by Mr. Hugh Low on the Mengalong river in North-western 
Borneo; and more recently I have seen quite a series obtained by Mr. W. B. Pryer in Sandakan 
on the north-east coast of the same island ; hut its scarcity in Museums proves beyond a doubt that it is 
a rare bird. 
Good figures of the species are given in Professor Schlegel’s illustrations to the species of Pitta found in 
the Dutch East Indies ; but the picture in Mr. Elliot’s ‘ Monograph of the PittidcC ’ is not quite so 
satisfactory, as the bird is there represented with a conspicuous white band across the lower rump, and 
the white hand on the wing is also ditferent from that of any specimen examined by me. As the bird from 
which this illustration was drawn is stated to be in the Museum of the Philadelphia Academy, I hope that 
some naturalist will re-examine it on some future occasion. 
I add a full description of both sexes of this Pitta : — 
Adult male. Crown of head and nape brilliant cobalt blue ; lores, feathers round the eye, sides of head, ear- 
coverts, and sides of neck black, bordering the blue crown for its entire extent, the lower feathers at the 
sides of the neck purple, tipped with red ivhere they adjoin the mantle ; back and scapulars red, somewhat 
washed with sandy brown on the scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; the lower tail-coverts bright 
cobalt, ivith a mesial streak of black ; tail deep blue, black below ; iviug-coverts black, the median series 
tipped with white, forming a diagonal bar across the wing ; quills blackish brown, the innermost secondaries 
externally sandy brown, the outermost of the latter tipped with white, forming a second bar across the wing ; 
cheeks, throat, and sides of neck white ; fore neck and breast black, the rest of the under surface purplish 
blue, shaded with richer purple on the sides of the body ; thighs ashy white ; under wing-coverts black, the 
axillaries tipped with white ; lower surfiice of quills blackish brown ; bill black ; feet pale yellowish. 
Total length 6'5 inches, culmen 0*85, wings 3‘4, tail T75, tarsus T4. 
Adult female. Above red, the head dull ochraceous brown; sides of face and under surface of body 
ochraceous brown, paler and inclining to buff’ on the abdomen ; the sides of the neck washed with the same 
red as the hack ; under tail-coverts blue, slightly washed with ochre on the margins ; wing-coverts as in the 
male, but browner and having the white bar across the wing slightly tinged with ochre; quills blackish, 
the inner secondaries dull sandy brown, the outer secondaries ochraceous towards the tips ; upper tail- 
coverts bright cobalt ; tall deep blue. 
Total length 6 inches, culmen 0'9, wing 3-55, tail T6, tarsus T5. 
The figures in the Plate represent two adult males and a female, of the natural size. One of them, a fine 
male, is in ray own possession, and u^as received in exchange direct from M. Temminck. The female, 
collected by Mr. Hugh Low, is now in the collection of the British Museum. 
[R. B. S.] 
