470 



PASSERIFORMES 



both being recognisable by the long-drawn tinal syllable. They 

 are chiefly terrestrial, and jump from rock to rock or branch to 

 stump with great agility ; their apparently leisurely movements 

 being really so quick that a mere glimpse is usually obtained 

 through some opening in the foliage, while their habits are 

 consequently difficult to observe. The quiet watcher may, how- 

 ever, hear the birds pattering over the beds of leaves, and see them 

 hunting for molluscs and insects, or digging for worms and ants, 

 but the slightest movement causes them to depart with long- 

 rapid hops, exchanged under pressure for a low, direct noiseless 

 flight of short duration. Pittas are habitually, though not in- 

 variably, solitary, and are especially shy when breeding. P. 

 moluccensis ascends the trees to call, P. oatcsi occasionally whistles 

 at night, while P. novae guincae flirts its tail like a Wagtail. 

 The exposed nest, with its lateral entrance, is frequently placed on 

 the ground at the foot of a tree or shrub, but sometimes amongst 

 undergrowth or in very low forks ; it is a rounded fabric of twigs, 

 roots, bark, moss, leaves, and grass, often cemented with earth ; 

 the larger species making a clumsier and looser structure, the 

 smaller a more compact mass. Unspotted eggs are rare, the usual 



colour being creamy-white 

 with brown, reddish, grey, 

 or purplish-black spots or 

 scrawls ; the number is 

 from three to six. An- 

 tliocincla pliayrii and Pitta 

 cucullata are said occa- 

 sionally to build a plat- 

 form of sticks before their 

 doorway, and the latter a 

 projecting roof over it. 

 The former species, which 

 inhabits Burma, is brown 

 with a black coronal 

 streak, black and white 

 superciliary stripes, white 

 throat, and pink vent ; 

 Pitta caerulea is bright 

 lilue above, with black occiput and nape, but an otherwise ashy head; 

 it is greyish-l)uff' below, with a partial black collar. The female 



Fig. 99. — Pitta hracliyura. 



