29



Correspondence.



THE SEX OF THE BENGAL PITTA.


Pitta brachyura.


It was with considerable interest that I read the excellent

article by our esteemed Secretary, Mr. R. Phillipps, on the Pitta,

which is concluded in the September number of our Magazine.

I was disappointed, however, to find that nothing definite

was mentioned about the difference between the sexes. Our

most recent publication upon the birds of India, by Oates and

Blanford, gives us no clue ; it merely states that the sexes are

alike. During the past two or three years in India, I have made

it my business to carefully compare all the live Bengal Pittas I

could see ; with the object of discovering any guide to the identifi¬

cation of the sexes. The Bengal Pitta is the only species of the

genus ordinarily met with in captivity; but it is far from being

a common cage-bird, even in India, where it is indigenous. Still,

I have had an opportunity of observing a few dozens of them ;

and the only distinction I can find is the width of the black

band of feathers which runs along the top of the head. In some

birds it is quite twice the width of what it is in others. This

difference is observable both in adult birds and also in the

young, even before the first moult; and I am thoroughly con¬

vinced that it is to be relied upon. To determine whether the

cock or the hen has the broader line upon the head can only be

ascertained by dissection. E. W. Harper.



CORRESPONDENCE.



CURIOUS NESTING PLACE OF BUDGERIGARS.


Sir,—A pair of my Budgerigars have chosen a very curious place for

nesting.


A few da} T s ago, whilst brushing out the fountain in the aviary flight,

I noticed a Budgerigar fly up from almost under my feet. Thinking it

rather strange that I had not noticed the bird on the ground, I stooped

down and discovered a hole (large enough for a rat to pass down) burrowed in

the earth underneath a large stone. I lifted the stone up, and a little further

under the surface I could just see a nest containing four or five eggs, which

appeared almost on the point of hatching. The Budgerigars had lined the



