THE INDIAN PITTA 135 



huts, outhouses, or any building that will afford them 

 shelter. The first bird of this kind that I saw had 

 taken refuge in the General Hospital at Madras ; and 

 subsequently, at Nellore, I obtained many alive under 

 the same circumstances." Other observers have had 

 similar experiences. Bligh, for instance, states that in 

 Ceylon pittas are frequently caught in bungalows on 

 coffee estates on cold and stormy days. 



It is strange that so retiring a bird as the pitta should 

 find its way with such frequency into inhabited houses. 

 Jerdon's explanation is its " feeble flight," but I doubt 

 whether he is correct in calling the pitta a bird of weak 

 flight ; it can travel very fast, for short distances at 

 any rate. It seems to me that the pitta dislikes cold 

 and wind, and therefore naturally seeks any shelter 

 that presents itself. Not being a garden bird, it is 

 unaware that the bungalow, which offers such tempting 

 cover, is the abode of human beings. Possibly another 

 reason why the pitta so frequently enters bungalows 

 is to avoid the crows. Dr. Henderson tells me that he 

 was playing tennis some years ago at a friend's house 

 in Madras when he saw a bird being chased by a mob 

 of crows. The fugitive took refuge in the drawing- 

 room of the house, where Dr. Henderson caught it, and 

 found that it was an uninjured but very much fright- 

 ened pitta. Mr. D. G. Hatchell informs me that he 

 once picked up in his verandah a dead pitta that had 

 probably been killed by crows. The corvi are out- 

 and-out Tories. They strongly resent all innovation 

 qua innovation. Any addition to the local fauna is 

 exceedingly distasteful to them. They object to the 



