PITTA BAUD] I, Mill. & Sent.
Red-backed Pitta,

i ie ** (8 ay. aes Te = ae r ‘ a . z , x

Pitta baud, Muller & ae. erh. Natuurl. Gesch. Zool. Aves, Pitta, pp. 10-20, pl. 2 (1839-44).—Gray, Gen.
. 942 8 . == [iG z Se ye: , 40 NX ° . cs :

B. i Or oa CID z OM, ota ak, p. 410 (1848).—-Schl. Hand. Dierk. i. p. 253 (1857). —Id. Vog.
Nederl. Ind. Pitta, pl. 5. figs. 1 and 2 (1863).—Id. Mus. P. B. Pitta, p. 5 (1863).—Wall. Ibis, 1864,
p. 107.—Gray, Handl. B. i. p. 296. no. 4374.—Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 234. no. 254.

Brachyurus baudi, Bp. Consp. i. p. 255 (1850).—Elliot, Monogr. Pitt. pl. xxii. (1863).—Id. Ibis, 1870, p. 419.

i Xe

ridipitta baud, Bp. Consp. Voluer. Anisod. p. 7 (1854).
} (

So rare is this fine Pitta in the Museums of Kurope, that the individual specimens at present known to

naturalists cannot exceed a dozen in number. Besides those in the Leyden Museum, I have myself

only seen two adult males—one in the collection of the British Museum, and another in my own cabinet ;

is that we have received authentic information respecting the
exact part of Borneo where this bird is to be looked for, although it is highly probable that it is to be found

and it is only within the last few montl

sparingly distributed all over that large island. To Mr. Hugh Low, however, we owe the discovery of the
adult female of this beautiful bird, as hitherto only the young plumage of this sex was known, as feured
by Schlegel (2. ¢.). Ihave to thank Mr. Low for the loan of his female specimen for the purposes of
dle present work; and a faithful likeness of it will be found on the accompanying Plate. He informs
me that the only specimens which he has seen his collectors obtained on the Mengalong river, opposite
to the island of Labuan. It is, as far as he knows, never found on the last-named island, but is strictly
confined to the mainland. I must mention that the female figured by me is rather larger in all
its dimensions than the males mentioned above; and it is probable that the examples from N.W. Borneo
will be found to exceed in size those from other localities.

I add a full deseription 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 the entire extent, the lower feathers at the
side of the neck purple, tipped with red where they adjoin the mantle; back and scapulars red, somewhat
washed with sandy brown on the scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; the lower upper tail-coverts bright
cobalt, with a eesial streak of black; tail deep blue, black below ; wing-coverts ees the median Benies
tipped with white, forming a diagonal bar across the wing; quills a brown, the innermost secomlanics
externally sandy brown, the outermost of the latter tipped with white, forming a second bar across the aoe
cheeks, throat, and sides of neck white ; fore neck and breast black, the Hes of the Hult a purplish
blue, shaded with richer purple on the sides of the body ; ohighs ashy ue ; niece a fe the
axillaries tipped with white ; lower surface of quills oie 1 black ; feet paie yellowish.

Total length 6:5 inches; culmen 0°85, wings 3°4, tail 1°75, tarsus Ue | i ee

Adult female. Above red, the head dull ochraceous brown 3 ec of a a : a a
ochraceous brown, paler and inclining to buff on the abdomen, the sides of the a pee ue ee ‘

as ack : 4 tailecoverts blue, slightly washed with ochre on the margins; wing-coverts as in the
etre ae aa te ae ee ee Faroe the wing slightly tinged with ochre ; quills blackish,

ale rowner % having the white bar across the wing sus : 5
oe . We cores dull sandy brown, the outer secondaries ochraceous towards the tips; upper tail-
coverts bright cobalt; tail deep blue. ee nee

Total leneth 6 inches ; culmen 0°9, wing 3-50, tail 1°0, tarsus lo. ;
eS eo, es, a Adit males and a female, of the natural size. One of them, a fine

nn ° >

“ RN the Plate re ' : d
ee Ps 7 exchange direct from M. Temminck. The female,
“x °

male, is in my own possession, and was received in
collected by Mr. Hugh Low, is now in the collection ot t
cali i 7] aking a remar
I cannot conclude this. article without making a ie é ER Oe csclaven
ittl T i ; there figured are represente ‘
re : x. The specimens there figured
nograph of the Pittide. 1e S]

in the bird itself;

he British Museum.
k on my friend Mr. Elliot’s plate im his ‘ Mo-

a : t the white band on the wing 1s also repre-
the lower rump, of which there 1s no trace

7 Ae ee ee > me.
from what it really is in the specimens examined by oes
adelphia-Academy collection ; and an examination
Cc o

The specimen from which
sented as quite different

: Pn ie Call in the Phil
Mr. Elliot’s figures are drawn is said to be

appears to be desirable.

2 Ca
a Oe .
myo th. CA GO) Nal eo COA