Extracts from Correspondence, Announcements , fyc. 413 
“ Cette Breve ofFre beaucoup d’analogie avec la Breve h Queue 
Courte, Pitta cyanura (P. brachyura, L. ?), du continent deklnde, 
dont elle ne parait se distinguer que par les caracteres suivants. 
Le vert des parties superieures est plus clair, et les parties in- 
ferieures sont blanc grisatre, au lieu de jaune brunatre. Le 
beau rouge qui se borne dans la Breve h Queue Courte, au bas 
ventre, se prolonge dans celle de la Coree jusqu'a la poitrine. Le 
noir enfin, qui occupe les cotes de la tete, s^etend dans cette 
espece sous le mentonP 
Our bird is a female, and answers well to the figure given in 
the ‘ Fauna Japonica/ which, from analogy, we should suppose 
to be a young bird of the species; for the under parts of our bird 
are of a fine buff, with the exception of the chin and sides of the 
nape, which are of a pure white. The blue on the wing-coverts 
is extended throughout the whole of them,—a few of the feathers 
still remaining partly green, and indicating such to be the 
actual colouring of the juvenile garb. 
On comparing ours with a skin of P. brachyura from India, 
kindly provided by Mr.Blyth, I notice the following differences:— 
The bill of our bird is much larger and deeper, and consider- 
bly more corvine, than that of brachyura. The occipital band 
that passes through the eye is much broader, and extends to 
beneath the bill. The medial coronal stripe is brown instead of 
black, and does not quite unite with the occipital. The back, 
scapulars, and tertiaries are of a darker, clearer green. The 
rump and wing-coverts are of a beautiful azure-blue with a pink- 
purple gloss, some of the feathers being patched with green. 
The white is much more extended on the quills, some of the 
inner quills being entirely white to their tips. The axillary 
coverts are black, without any white. The tail is similarly co¬ 
loured in both, and the lovely crimson of the under tail-coverts 
extends up the centre of the belly to the breast. The bird is 
much larger and much more robust than P. brachyura , but 
bears considerable resemblance to that species. Indeed, were it 
not for the ventral crimson stripe and its large bill, one would 
feel almost inclined to look upon it as merely a large variety of 
the Indian bird. 
The measurements of my skin of P. brachyura of India are as 
follows:— 
