Turdus moluccensis P. L. S. Müller, Natursyst. Suppl. (1776), 144.
Pitta cyanoptera Temminck, Pl. Col. (1823), 218; Sclater,
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1888), 14, 420; Hume, Oates ed. Nests &
Eggs Ind. Bds. (1890), 2, 283; Sharpe, Hand-List (1901), 3, 180.
Pitta fastosa McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 286.
Basilan (Celestino). Burma, Siam, Cambodia, southern China,
Malay Peninsula, Borneo.
Adult (sexes alike).--Sides of head including lores, cheeks,
supercilia, and ear-coverts black, connected by a wide black collar;
wide vertical stripe black, bordered on each side by a wide stripe of
fulvous brown, the feathers edged with pale buff on exterior webs;
back, scapulars, and tertials dark green; rump, upper tail-coverts,
and lesser and median wing-coverts bright ultramarine-blue; chin
black; throat white; lower throat, breast, abdomen, and flanks ruddy
buff, most intense on breast; vent, under tail-coverts, and middle
of abdomen bright red; tail black, tipped with dull blue; primaries
black, each feather with a white patch, mesial and smallest on first,
reaching tip on seventh; secondaries black, edged with dull blue
on terminal half; alula, primary-coverts, axillars, and wing-lining
black. A male measures: Wing, 119; tail, 38; culmen from base, 26;
bill from nostril, 17; tarsus, 39. A female from Basilan (type of
Pitta fastosa) measures: Length in flesh, 190; wing, 117; tail, 40;
culmen from base, 28; bill from nostril, 18; tarsus, 36.
The type of Pitta fastosa McGregor proves to be a specimen of
P. moluccensis. This species is migratory.
Suborder ACROMYODI.
Characters the same as those given in the key to Suborders.
Families.
a1. Width of gape about twice the length of bill from nostril; bill
short and weak; secondaries about one-half as long as wing; legs and
feet weak. ... Hirundinidæ (p. 424)
a2. Width of gape usually much less than, or at most about equal to,
bill from nostril; secondaries more than one-half as long as wing.
b1. Tarsus booted, its anterior face consisting of a single plate,
occasionally with obsolete transverse divisions; or, sometimes with
one or two transverse lines near the foot.
c1. Tarsus not longer than bill from gape, usually much less.
d1. First primary more than one-half the length of the
second. ... Pycnonotidæ (p. 496)
d2. First primary much less than one-half the length of the
second. ... Certhiidæ (p. 611)
c2. Tarsus decidedly longer than bill from gape.
d1. Tertials decidedly shorter than the secondaries.
e1. Usually much larger; tail square, or nearly so; rictal
bristles longer and more numerous; plumage of young mottled
or squamate. ... Turdidæ (p. 541)
e2. Usually much smaller; tail rounded, wedge-shaped, or
strongly graduated; wing never over 100 mm., usually much
less; plumage of young nearly like that of adult, but usually
brighter. ... Sylviidæ (p. 566)
d2. Tertials longer than the secondaries; hind claw usually
longer than the hind toe. ... Motacillidæ (p. 664)
b2. Tarsus distinctly scutellate, in front at least.
c1. Posterior face of tarsus rounded and scutellate. ... Alaudidæ
(p. 673)
c2. Posterior face of tarsus compressed and acute, without
transverse divisions.
d1. Cutting edges of bill minutely serrated.
e1. Bill from nostril more than tarsus; bill slender and
strongly curved. ... Nectarinidæ (p. 641)
e2. Bill from nostril less than tarsus; bill stouter and but
little curved. ... Dicæidæ (p. 622)
d2. Cutting edges of bill not serrated.
e1. First primary wanting; the outermost (second) primary
nearly as long as the next (third) one.
f1. Bill slender, curved, and acute; a circle of white
feathers around the eye (usually). ... Zosteropidæ (p. 613)
f2. Bill stout, conical, and relatively shorter; no circle
of white feathers around the eye. ... Fringillidæ (p. 676)
e2. First primary present, sometimes very minute.
f1. First primary slender, acute, and shorter than
primary-coverts.
g1. Powder-down patches present on the sides, thighs,
and back. ... Artamidæ (p. 589)
g2. Powder-down patches wanting.
h1. Bill short and stout; tips of rectrices
pointed. ... Ploceidæ (p. 687)
h2. Bill moderately long and slender; tips of rectrices
square or rounded. ... Sturnidæ (p. 709)
f2. First primary longer than primary-coverts, its tip
rounded.
g1. Nostrils not concealed by plumes nor bristles; rictal
bristles not conspicuously developed.
h1. Wing rounded, the primaries not greatly exceeding
the secondaries in length. ... Timeliidæ (p. 517)
h2. Wing pointed, the primaries considerably longer
than the secondaries. ... Oriolidæ (p. 693)
g2. Nostrils concealed by antrorse feathers, or by both
feathers and long bristles.
h1. Smaller; wing, less than 200 mm.; frontal feathers
shorter, never extending far in front of the nostrils;
nasal bristles often extending beyond the frontal
feathers.
i1. Under tail-coverts shorter, not extending beyond
the toes in skins.
j1. Hind toe longer than longest lateral toe, its
claw large; outer toe much longer than inner toe;
bill slender; culmen nearly straight. ... Sittidæ
(p. 609)
j2. Hind toe equal to, or shorter than, longest
lateral toe, its claw not conspicuously larger
than the claws of anterior toes; outer toe slightly
longer than inner toe; culmen more or less curved,
usually with a notch near the tip of mandible;
or else the bill short, stout, and conoid.
k1. Bill much flattened, wide at the base, and
with long rictal and nasal bristles; or else bill
slender; legs and feet usually weak; wing, not over
95 mm., usually much less. ... Muscicapidæ (p. 430)
k2. Bill strong and compressed, or else short
and conoid with no notch near the tip; legs and
feet stout.
l1. Tail short and square, reaching little if
at all beyond the toes; bill short, stout, and
conoid; wing, 80 mm. or less. ... Paridæ (p. 604)
l2. Tail moderately to very long; bill large
and compressed, culmen strongly curved; wing,
85 mm. or more.
m1. Rectrices long, narrow, and graduated;
plumage never glossy nor entirely black;
upper mandible with a strong notch near the
tip. ... Laniidæ (p. 591)
m2. Rectrices long and broad, the outermost
curved outward; tail slightly to deeply
forked; feathers on sides of neck more or less
lengthened and pointed; plumage glossy black
(abdomen white in one species). ... Dicruridæ
(p. 702)
i2. Under tail-coverts longer, extending beyond the
toes in skins; bill stout, as wide as deep at nostril;
culmen strongly arched; rictal and nasal bristles
inconspicuous. ... Campophagidæ (p. 478)
h2. Larger; wing, more than 200 mm.; plumes covering
the nostrils numerous and long, extending well beyond
the nostrils; no nasal bristles; plumage entirely
black. ... Corvidæ (p. 721)
Family HIRUNDINIDÆ.
Bill weak, short, flat, and broad, the edges smooth; a small notch
near end of upper mandible; culmen nearly straight, except at tip;
nostrils exposed; rictal bristles small and weak; wings long and
narrow; primaries nine, the first slightly longer than the second;
secondaries very short; tail more or less forked; tarsus and toes
slender, moderate in size, usually unfeathered.
Genera.
a1. Toes and tarsus thickly covered with short
feathers. ... Chelidonaria (p. 424)
a2. Toes, and usually the tarsus, entirely devoid of feathers.
b1. Upper parts dull earthy brown with no gloss; tail but slightly
forked. ... Riparia (p. 425)
b2. Upper parts glossed with green or steel-blue; tail deeply forked,
and sometimes very long. ... Hirundo (p. 426)
Genus CHELIDONARIA Reichenow, 1889.
Plumage of upper parts black, glossed with blue, bases of the feathers
white; a white band across rump; tail nearly square; tarsi and toes
thickly clothed with short feathers.