JCmldimdllGRúkUr.ibltllah
PITTA SCHWANERI , Temm.
Schwaner’s P itta .
Pitta Schwaneri, Temm. in Leyden Museum.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 256.—Id . Consp. Voluc. Anisod.
1854, p. 7, no. 200.—Elliot, Mon. o f Pittidse, pi. xxx.
O f the three nearly allied species Pitta cyanura, P . Boschi, and P . Schwaneri, the last-mentioned bird is
the rarest. In point o f beauty it is ju st intermediate between the two oth ers; for while it wants the fiery
and blue chest-markings of P. Boschi, it excels the P . cyanura in the rich blue of the centre of its abdomen.
The native country of this fine bird is the island of Borneo; and this, I regret to say, is all that is known
respecting it. The accompanying Plate illustrates both sexes as accurately as may b e ; but to do more than
approximate to the colouring of these birds is out o f the question—their tints being lovely in the extreme,
and their iridescent hues so surpassingly beautiful as to be inimitable in a drawing.
The male has the crown of the head, lores, a broad stripe from the base of the lower mandible, and
the occiput deep black, passing into rich blue where it joins the deep cinnamon-brown o f the upper surface;
over each eye a broad stripe of the richest gamboge-yellow; wing-coverts black, w ith a large oblong mark
of white a t the tip o f the outer web of each feather; primaries and secondaries black ; two or three of the
central secondaries narrowly edged with white, within which is a tinge of blue near the t ip ; chin white,
passing into rich gamboge-yellow below, and into a still richer tint of the same colour on the sides o f the
n eck; below the throat-gorget, the breast and flanks are alternately barred with narrow bands o f deep blue
and broader bands of gamboge-yellow terminating on the flanks in a conspicuous patch of fine yellow;
centre o f the abdomen deep b lu e ; upper and under tail-coverts and tail rich deep blue, glossed with lighter
blue on the margins of the feathers.
The female has the crown of the head, lores, and stripe through the eye dull black; stripe over the eye
rich orange-yellow; .throat dull white, washed with orange, which deepens on the sides of the neck;
primaries brown; bands o f the under surface more distinct, but of a much paler h u e : in all other respects
very similar to the male.
The Plate represents the two sexes, of the size of life.