PITTA CELEBENS|I S, Forst.
Celebean Pitta.

Pitta pactensis, Miller & soaks Verh. Nat. Geschied. Zool. Aves, p. 18. no. 16 (1839-44, ex Forster MS.).—
Gray, Genera of Birds, i. p. 213 (1846).—Westerman, Bijdr. tot de Dierkunde, folio, i. p. 46, pl. iii
(1848-54).— Wallace, Ibis, 1860, p. 142.—Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Pitta p. 6 (1863).—Ia. vee os
Nederl. Indié, Pitta, pp. 17, 34, pl. iv. figs. 4, 5 (1863).—Wallace, Ibis, 1864, p. 105.—Gray oe
list of Birds, i. p. 296. no. 4377 (1869).—Schlegel, Revue Pitta Mus. Pays-Bas, p. 10 (1874)—Salvad.
Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. vii. p. 663 (1875).—Meyer in Rowley’s Ornith. Misc. part viii. (1877).

Brachyurus celebensis, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 253 (1850).—Elliot, Monogr. Pittide, pl. xvii. (1863).—Id.
Ibis, 1870, p. 418.

Erythropitta celebensis, Bonap. Consp. Volucr. Anisod. p- 7 (1854) ; Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. viii. p. 62 (1872),

 

I wave already, in one of my other articles, spoken of the distribution of the red-breasted Pittas in the Malay
archipelago, and I have quoted the remarks of Dr. Meyer on this subject; I therefore need only say that
the present species is the representative of this section of the genus on the island of Celebes, to which it
appears entirely restricted. It is true that, in his Review of the Pittas contained in the Leiden Museum,
Professor Schlegel enumerates several examples from the island of Siao in the Sanghir archipelago; but
these no doubt belong to the species since named Pitta palliceps by the late Dr. Briggemann. Certain
differences, indeed, seem to have struck Professor Schlegel at the time; for he says that in the birds from
Siao the rufous colour of the head is paler than in examples from Celebes, and often replaces the black
bordering the blue stripe on the head.

Mr. Wallace found the species scarce in Northern Celebes, which appears to be the only part of the
island where it has yet been found. I may be mistaken in this, as the localities Modelido, Negri-lama, and
Boné, mentioned in the list of specimens at Leiden, do not occur in any of the maps I have exammed. The
other places, however, Menado, Gorontalo, and Toudano are situated in the northern part of Celebes; and
Dr. Beccari, although be collected at Buton, in the south-west corner of the island, only met with the Pitta
at Kema, in the north. The presumption at least is, that, even if it is found all over the island, it is more
abundant in the northern portion.

Count Salvadori mentions that the specimen shot by Dr. Beccari at Kema had the outermost of the
smaller wing-coverts close to the bend of the wing marked with white—a feature not previously noted or
figured in the plates of the species which have at present appeared.

Mr. Elliot, in his latest revision of the genus Pitta (Ibis, 1870, p. 418), gives the following diagnosis of
the species, which I translate :—

Adult. Green: head rufous, with a vertical band of bluish; wings and tail blue; pectoral band cobalt-
blue, the throat rufous. In addition to these characters the white spots on the quill-feathers and the scarlet
breast are common to the other allied species. oo

The soft parts are noted by Mr. Wallace to be as follows in freshly-killed specimens :— Bill blackish-
horny ; feet dusky lead-colour ; iris pale olive.”

The figures in the Plate are of the size of life, and are drawn from examples in my own collection.

   
   
  
    
  
   
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

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