specimens collected by any one else have reached Europe from th e r e ; whereas P. celebensis appeared to be
less rare there than in the northern parts. Here I got specimens of P . forsteni in the Minahassa and m
the district o f Gorontalo.
“ P ittas are shy birds, as I have said before; but their flute-like cry once heard, the specimen can nearly
always be got with patience and quietness; imitating its voice, the bird can be called up till it is close to
the hunter’s gun. The rareness of the black-headed Pitta on Celebes is proved by the fact that its
colours shelter it even less than the colours o f P. celebensis shelter that species, or the bright blue shoulder,
patches o f P. forsteni, which always glitter on the ground, which it never quits. The colour o f the in s is
dark, the feet dusky, the hill black. It feeds on insects o f all kinds. Its name in the Minhassa is ‘Mopo
idiu,’ that is to say, ‘ Green Mopo,' ‘ Mopo ’ being the name for P. celebensis, the meaning o f which word
in the Alfuro language I have explained in my 1 Field-notes on the Birds of Celebes ’ Ibis, 1879, p. 126),
where I also narrated the story which the natives attached to this bird.