SRS REeLON AD FNOR AOL CRA ACR AR CANE NGPA NCO J PS . ‘ Se \ sf. KS a 3 —S PITT A GURN By YY! I, Flume. Gurney’s Pitta. Pitta gurneyi, Hume, Stray Feathers, vol. iii. no. 4, p. 296. Brachyurus gurneyi, Id. tom. cit. no. 6, pl. 3. We are indebted to the pages of ‘Stray Feathers’ for a knowledge of this new and magnificent Pitta; and [ can readily conceive with what real pleasure Mr. Allan Hume took up his pew to write a description of so interesting a bird. To myself, who have from the beginning of my career as an ornithologist been much attached to this family, the discovery was especially welcome ; but how much was this feeling enhanced by Mr. Hume presenting me with a fine pair (male and female adult) for my already, I may say, unique collection of this beautiful family ! Not only is this bird entirely new, but it is an additional and fourth species of a small section of the Pittidze whose coloration is most attractive and interesting. Mr. Hume having given a most careful descrip- tion of both sexes of the Pitta gurneyi, and his reason for dedicating this new bird to his friend Mr. J. H. Gurney, I shall take the liberty to copy nearly verbatim what he has so well said: —“I dedicate this really lovely species, an inhabitant of the most southern portions of the Tenasserim Provinces, to my kind friend Mr. J. H. Gurney, well known to all ornithologists as the first living authority where Raptorial birds are concerned. ‘No more beautiful or interesting addition to our Indian avifauna has been made for many a long day ; and ‘its discovery is one of the results of the systematic ornithological survey of the Tenasserim Provinces which for the past two years has been vigorously prosecuted by my curator Mr. William Davison and my whole staff. . “Though conspicuously different from any one of them, this new species is most nearly allied to P. eya- nura, Gmel. (guaiana, P. L. S. Mill.), P. schwaneri, Temm., and P. boschi, 8S. Mill. (2 elegans, Lesson). «There is the same cuneiform blue tail, the same comparatively small bill, the same more or less rufous olivaceous upper surface, the same difference in the sexes, an orange-brown replacing on the head of the female the more marked colours of that portion of the male. «While dealing with a species of this genus I take the opportunity of noting that in a recent livraison of {) Professor Schlegel remarks of this genus, ‘ Ces oiseaux aux the Museum des Pays-Bas (dated April 1874 ae , . \ i ‘ 9 ae : 2 ay A bee i < pe habitudes parfaitement sédentaires et ne sachant guere voler, n’ont pas la faculté de se transporter dans d’autres localités du lieu qui les a vu naitre.’ «« Now, as regards those species which I have had most opportunities of observing, viz. moluccensis and co- ronata, these remarks are wholly erroneous. Both species are eminently migratory ; neither, at au rate within our limits, are ever found at other seasons of the year anywhere in or near the localities m which ney breed. Both vearly travel hundreds of miles to their breeding-baunts, streaming up in tens of thousands of at about the same time, though not in flocks. i i As to coronata, Layard and Jerdon and pairs, all moving at al ee | found this the case during the past two years As to cyanoptera, we have lay peninsula, and flood not only the Tenasserim Fe but the eetting as high as Thayetmyo ; and in this migration they are Doria, too, I see, as quoted by others have recorded this years ago. j , Ie in Burmah: they come up from the 4a valley of the Irrawady, some at any rate but much larger-billed megarhynchus. ; - - aA1e ah VA 2A 1OT: . = apr r ‘ 7 o 236), notices that in Borneo also they are migratory, no specimen having : aL e there in that month), November, and December. accompanied by the nearly allied Salvadori (‘ Uccelli di Borneo, p. been obtained at Sarawak before October (though not rar The Plate represents two males and a female, of the size of life.