THE PITTAS. 121 



every feather, and from this there is a gradation to that 

 of ordinary birds. But I have never seen any of the 

 living birds brought in for sale marked in this way, and 

 as the books say nothing about it, it must be rather a 

 rare variation. 



This bird breeds, in the Central Provinces at least, in 

 July and August, and builds a big round nest of twigs 

 and leaves. This is either actually on the ground or on 

 a low branch. The eggs are lustrous white with deep red 

 and purple spots. The young are sometimes reared from 

 the nest and brought to Calcutta for sale, but only occa- 

 sionally. 



They get very tame and make most charming pet 

 birds, but are not suited for cage life in some ways, as 

 besides not being songsters, they scatter the sand about 

 so much by their active movements that the vicinity of 

 the cage is always dirty. If, therefore, they have to be 

 kept caged, a hay bedding is better than a sanded floor. 

 It is in an aviary or very large cage, however, that they 

 really do themselves justice. Their ordinary movements 

 are very graceful, and their gestures when excited are 

 most amusing. Sometimes they will stand bolt upright, 

 at others crouch down ; and in either position they will 

 often expand their wings, an action which has a most 

 ludicrously oratorical appearance when they are standing 

 up. With other birds they seem to be quite harmless, 

 even with much smaller ones, but they are liable to fight 

 savagely amongst themselves, so that it must not be 

 expected that more than a pair will live together perma- 

 nently ; and there is some risk even in putting cock and 



