Elegant Pitta

The elegant pitta is 19 cm (7.5 in) long and weighs 47–77 g (1.7–2.7 oz). It has a black head, throat, chin and neck with a buff crown stripe. The upperparts are dark green, as are most of the wings, which also have a bright turquoise patch on the lesser coverts. The rump is turquoise-blue and the tail is black with a green tip. The underparts are mostly warm buff, with the centre black with a red patch below. The sexes are similar.

== References ==

The elegant pitta was described and illustrated by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1836 from a specimen collected on the island of Timor. Temminck coined the binomial name Pitta elegans. The elegant pitta has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of the Indian pitta (P. brachyura), noisy pitta (P. versicolor) or blue-winged pitta (P. moluccensis). Four subspecies are recognised:

P. e. virginalis Hartert, 1896 – the small islands of Tanahjampea, Kalaotoa, and Kalao (between Sulawesi and Flores) P. e. hutzi Meise, 1942 – island of Nusa Penida (southeast of Bali) P. e. maria Hartert, 1896 – island of Sumba (south Lesser Sundas) P. e. elegans Temminck, 1836 – island of Timor and surrounding islands Three other subspecies have been described but are now lumped in the preceding subspecies.