Mr. A. R. Wallace on the Genus Pitta. 101 



but whose different species seem free to adorn themselves with 

 the brightest hues from Nature^s laboratory. There is, however, 

 this difference, that whereas the Tanagers are a dominant group, 

 aboundnig in genera, species, and individuals, over a very wide 

 area, and presenting to our view much variety of form and 

 almost every possible combination of colours, the Pittas are a 

 small and probably decreasing genus, with but slight modifica- 

 tions of form, and alike poor in species and in individuals. They 

 inhabit a district which has been recently broken up into many 

 fragments, and which seems to have been, during long epochs 

 of the past, in an unstable and ever-changing condition. The 

 effects of such changes of surface are to be traced in the consti- 

 tution of this lovely genus, which, though so small, yet presents 

 us with at least ten distinct styles of coloration, each of which, 

 under more favourable circumstances, might have been the nu- 

 cleus of a group of variously modified species. 



In form the Pittas are characterized by a short rounded body, 

 densely clothed with plumage, by very long legs, short wings 

 and tail, and by a long and strong bill, so much like that of a 

 Jackdaw or Jay as sufficiently to explain why Linnseus named 

 the only species known to him Corvus brachijurus. Their motions 

 are very pleasing. They never seem to hurry, and yet get along 

 at a great rate by hopping, generally on the ground, but occa- 

 sionally perching on a stump or bush, and, when hard pushed, 

 taking a long, straight, and silent flight. They are almost uni- 

 versally rare birds, and are only to be met with by assiduously 

 searching for them in the station which each species is found 

 to prefer. Sometimes they frequent deserted plantations and 

 dense thickets near villages. I obtained the beautiful Pitta 

 eleyans in such places near Palembang, in Sumatra. Most of 

 the species are, however, found only in the virgin forests, often 

 preferring the densest and thorniest jungles, where it is almost 

 impossible to catch sight of them, except when so near that they 

 cannot be shot without spoiling the specimen. In the island of 

 Bouru the Pitta rubrinucha was only found among the tangled 

 coils of the prickly rattan-palms, where it is impossible for a 

 man to pass without first laboriously hewing a pathway. My 

 best hunter had seen this bird many times during our two 



