286 PITTID^. 



whole surface of the egg, but are always much denser towards one 

 end, to which in some eggs they are entirely confined, and here 

 alone the secondary markings are at all conspicuous. Here they 

 often form a sort of nimbus round all the spots, blotches, and 

 lines, all the interstices between which they occupy and unite to 

 form an irregular mottled cap. There is something about the 

 character'of the egg which indicates to me that the Pittas should 

 be placed nearer the Bulbuls and the Orioles than the true 

 Thrushes. I should note that there is one not uncommon type in 

 which the whole egg is devoid of markings, except within a broad 

 zone near one end, and even here they only consist of \\idely 

 scattered and minute specks of maroon and pale lilac. 



The eggs vary from 0*96 to 1'07 inch in length, and from 0*81 

 to 0"9 inch in breadth ; but the average of fifty eggs is 1"01 by 

 0'86 inch nearly. 



Pitta cucullata, Hartl. The Green-breasted Pitta. 



Pitta cucuUata, Hartl. , Jercl. B. Incl. i, p. 504. 



Melanopitta cucullata {Hartl.), Hume, Hour/h Draft N. S,- E. 

 no. 340. 



According to Mr. Hodgson's notes a]id drawings the Green- 

 breasted Pitta breeds in the central regions of Nepal and about 

 Darjeeling in April and May. They build a large globular nest, 

 one of which measured nearly 6'75 inches in external diameter, 

 and had a circular opening fully 3 inches in diameter on one side. 

 They place their nests very generally on the ground, in clumps of 

 bamboos, and they construct them of dry bamboo-leaves'and twigs 

 and other dry leaves and stems firmly and compactly interwoven. 

 The exterior is rough and strong ; the interior lined with soft 

 vegetable fibres. They lay four eggs, very broad ovals, glossy, 

 with a pinky-white ground, pretty thickly spotted all over with 

 reddish and brownish purple ; an egg figured measures 096 by 

 0-79 inch. 



Dr. Jerdou says : — " I only procured one specimen, which was 

 killed by a Lepcha, when seated on her nest, on the banks of the 

 great llungit liiver, about 1200 feet above the sea. The nest v\'as 

 composed chiefly of roots and other fibrous matter, with a few 

 hairs, and contained tbree eggs of a faint greenish white, with a 

 few reddish and some fawn-coloured spots." 



Mr. J. E. Cripps writes from 8ylhet :— " On the 25th May, 

 1875, a nest containing 2 eggs was brought me ; the bird too was 

 brought, having been captured while incubating. The nest (which 

 was about 5 inches in diameter, perfectly rouiid, the egg-cavity 

 being 3 inches by 1\ in depth) was composed outside of thick grass- 

 roots and dead leaves, and inside of thin grass-roots and fibres, and 

 was placed about a foot inside of a hole near a bamboo clump in 

 heavy jungle. I kept the parent bird (which was, I think, a 

 female, as the colours were duller than those of one or two I have 



