466 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



P. schlegelii. Very little is known of the habits of these interesting birds. The 

 last mentioned species is said to hop from branch to branch, mostly in pairs, looking 

 for its food, which consists of small insects, especially coleopters. 



It has been suggested by Mr. J. Gould that the curious Mellopitta (or Melampitta) 

 lugubris from New Guinea, with its velvety feathers of the face, might form the tran- 

 sition from the foregoing family to that of the PITTID.E which are often called the 

 'Old World ant-thrushes,' but its anatomy is yet unknown, and we, therefore, leave 

 it with the latter, at least provisionally. 



The pittas, on account of the form of their bills and the apparently booted tarsi, 

 were by most authors held to be nearly related to the thrushes (Turdidre) until quite 

 recently, when Garrod demonstrated their mesomyodiau or ' clamatorial ' nature by 



FIG. 231. Pitta coronata, Bengal pitta. 



actual dissection, thus verifying Dr. Cabanis' deduction from the length of the first 

 (tenth) primary. The skull of the pittas exhibits one feature which is found in no 

 other passerine bird, viz., that the temporal fossaa extend across the occipital region 

 of the skull, and nearly meet in the middle line behind. 



The species figured is the well-known Indian form Pitta coronata, which occurs 

 from the Himalayas to Ceylon. It is olivaceous green ; the head olivaceous ochre 

 with a black line along the crown and one underneath each eye ; throat white, but 

 the rest of the under surface is light fawn-colored, abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 strongly washed with beautiful rose-red ; the upper tail-coverts and the smaller upper 

 wing-coverts are shining sky-blue ; on the wing a white speculum. 



Alfred Wallace has given a most excellent account of their habits and distribution, 

 from which we make copious abstracts in the following. To use his words, the pittas, 



