BE ACIIYUEUS (Iridipitta. Bos,) IEIS.
BAHBOW PITTA.
P itta Iris. Gould, Birds o f Australia, vol. iv., pi. 3, and Introd. B. o f Aust., (1848,) p. 55, No. 253.
P itta Iris. Mull, and Schleg. Verhand. Natuur. Geschied. Neder. f e d .
P itta Iris. Gould, Proc. Zool. Societ., (1842,) p. 17.
P itta IHs. G. R. Gray, Gen. o f Birds, vol. i.
Brachyurus Iris. Bon. Oonsp. Av., (1850,) vol. i., p. 255, sp. 20.
Irid ip itta Iris. Bon. Consp. Voluc. Anisod., (1854,) p. 7, No. 193.
N ig e r : fascia superoculari ferruginea: corpore supra, alisque, ex aureo viridibus: humeris metallica
caeruleis, et fascia inferiore lazulina ornatis: cauda nigra apice viridi: crisso rubro : rostro nigro; pedibus
pallescentibus.
H abitat.-—Australia. • _____ __________ :.
Adult.—Head, neck, breast, abdomen, and sides, deep black; back and wings, bright green; smaller wing
coverts, light blue. Tail, black, at the base tipped with green; primaries, black, brown at the base—
the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth having a white spot near the centre; lower part o f the abdomen, and
crissum scarlet. Bill black, feet and tarsi flesh color.
This beautiful species was first described by Mr. Gould in the proceedings of the
Zoological Society for 1842. He determined the species .from two examples brought
from Australia. This is the third member of this family that has been discovered in that
country, and I think it exceeds in beauty all of its relatives which have been found
dwelling on that continent.
The Pitta Iris bears no resemblance to any other member of this family that has
thus far become known to ornithologists, and consequently it is not likely to be confounded
with them, the rich black which covers the greater part of its body, serving at
all times easily to distinguish it from the other species.
Mr. Gould, in the fourth volume of the Birds of Australia, says of the two specimens
mentioned above, that they were both “ from the Coburg Peninsula, where the species