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BEACHYUEUS IEENA.
IRENE PITTA.
P itta Irena. Temm., plan, color., No. 591.
P itta Irena. Miill. and Schleg. Verhand. Natuur. Gerschied Neder. Ind.
P itta Irena. Gray, Gen. o f Birds, vol. i.
Brachyurus Irena. Bon. Consp. Voluc. Anisodact., (1854,) p- 7, No. 179.
B rachyurus Irena. Bon. Consp. Av., vol, i., p. 254, sp. 6.
Viridis : capite nigro, superciliis flavescentibus : tectricibus alarum minoribus, uropygioque cyaneis ; pri-
mariis nigris, speculo albo : cauda nigra, apice viridi ; subtus ocbraceus ; abdomine, et crisso coccineis.
Rostro nigro, pedibus pallescentibus.
Habitat.—-Timor.
Adult.—Head, back of neck and throat, black ; a narrow band over the eye, from the nostril to back of
bead, bright yellow; back and wings, bluish green; shoulders, light blue; primaries, black, with a
white spot on the fourth and fifth ; rump, light blue ; tail, black, bordered with green ; breast and
sides, yellowish brown ; abdomen and crissum, blood red ; bill, black ; feet and tarsi, flesh-color.
A gain am I indebted to Messrs. Müller and Schlegel for the following account of
the present species.- In the work from which I have already so often quoted, they remark
that : “This new species was discovered by us in the year 1829, on the island
Timor, and was sent to the National Museum, when it was described by M. Temminck,
in the Planches Coloriées, (591,) under the name of Pitta Elegans, (Brève Irene,) while
the same name, through an error in printing, was erroneously given to another Pitta,
which we had previously described and illustrated, under the name of Pitta Boschii.
“We first met this bird in the woods, and again in tracts covered with wild shrubbery,
near the capital town, Amarassie, situated at the western end of Timor, a few
hundred feet above the level of the sea, in a hilly region.