470 PASSERIFORMES CHAP, 
both being recognisable by the long-drawn final 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. PP. 
moluccensis ascends the trees to call, P. oatesi occasionally whistles 
at night, while P. novae guineae 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 purphsh-black spots or 
scrawls; the number is 
from three to six. <An- 
thocincla phayrii 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 
blue above, with black occiput and nape, but an otherwise ashy head; 
it is greyish-buff below, with a partial black collar. The female 
Fic. 99.—Pitta brachyura, x. 
