PITTA 



729 



in some a modification of these tints is observable, there is scarcely 

 a trace of any blending of shade, each patch of colour standing out 

 distinctly. This is perhaps the more remarkable as the feathers 



Pitta eleqans, male and female. (Alter Sclileij'el.) 



have hardly any lustre to heighten the effect produced, and in 

 some species the brightest colours are exhibited by the plumage of 

 the lower pai'ts of the body. Pittas vary in size from that of a Jay 

 to that of a Lark, and generally have a strong bill, a thickset form, 

 which is mounted on rather high legs with scutellated "tarsi," and 

 a very short tail. In many of the forms there is little or no ex- 

 ternal difterence between the sexes. ^ 



Placed by some authorities among the Pittidx is the genus Phile- 

 pitta, consisting of two species peculiar to Madagascar, while other 

 systematists would consider it to form a distinct Family. This last 

 was the conclusion, the propriety of which can hardly be qviestioned, 

 aci'ived at by W. A. Forbes (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1880, pp. 387-391), 

 from its syringeal characters, which, though shewing it to be allied 

 to the Pittas, are yet sufficiently diff"erent to justify its separation 

 as the type of a Family Philepittida'.. The two species which com- 

 pose it have little outward resemblance to the Pittas, not having 



^ All tlie species then known were figured in Mr. Elliot's Monograph of tlit. 

 Pittidse,, completed in 1863 ; but so many have since been described, that 

 he is now bringing out a revised and enlarged edition of this work, as several of 

 those lately discovered are figured only in Gould's Birds of Asia and Birds of JVcw 

 Guinea. Mr. Sclater's Catalogue above quoted will be found very useful. 



