102 Mr. A. 11. Wallace on the Genus Pitta. 



months' stay in the island, without ever being able to secure a 

 specimen. Not liking to be beaten, he proposed to me to go 

 and sleep in a deserted hut near the place where he had most 

 frequently seen it ; because just after sunrise they are busily 

 feeding, and are more easily approached. His plan succeeded, 

 and he shot two adult specimens ; but he was so close to one of 

 them that it was literally blown into several pieces ; and his success 

 cost me his services for a fortnight, owing to his having seriously 

 torn and cut his feet in his too eager pursuit after the game in 

 its prickly fastness. In the Aru Islands the beautiful species 

 P. novce-guinece and P. mackloti quite baffled my Malay hunters ; 

 but the little Papuan boys, creeping stealthily through the thick 

 jungle, shot them with blunt prong-headed arrows, and thus 

 })rocured me many fine specimens. The noble Pitta maxima, 

 one of the very finest birds of the Malay Islands, is found only 

 in the rocky forests of the mountainous island of Gilolo, where 

 it hops among the crags and stones with such activity that it is 

 very difficult to follow it. The only place where I could do 

 more than catch an occasional hasty glimpse of a Pitta was in the 

 island of Lombock. The Pitta concinna was there rather plen- 

 tiful in a level sandy tract densely overgrown with low trees and 

 shrubs and intersected by numerous pathways. As there were 

 very few insects in the neighbourhood to distract my attention, 

 I devoted a good deal of time to shooting; and nothing gave 

 me more pleasure than hearing the note of a Pitta, watching for it 

 to appear, and getting a successful shot at it through some narrow 

 opening in the jungle. The bird's presence would often be first 

 made known by its little pattering tread among the dry leaves ; 

 a glimpse would then be obtained as it passed lightly under the 

 thickest of the covert, and the least motion to obtain another 

 glimpse would often be followed by a slight flutter and flash as 

 it flew almost noiselessly away. A dead Pitta, as it lies when 

 just shot, is exceedingly beautiful. You do not find it lying on 

 its side, or all in a heap, like other birds, but invariably flat on 

 its back, the feet up in the air, the plumage beautifully puffy, 

 and the crimson patch on the belly displayed to the best advan- 

 tage. This peculiarity of the dead bird is pcrha])s owing to the 

 short tail and wings and the roundness and ])lumpness of the 



