466 



NATURAL HISTOllY OF lilllDS. 



P. schleyelii. Very little is known of the liabits of tliese interesting liirds. The 

 last mentibned species is said to hoj) from branch to braiu li, mostly in pairs, looking 

 for its food, which consists of small insects, especially coleopters. 



It has been suggested by Mr. J. Gould that the curious Jleliopiita (or Melampitta) 

 lugubris from New Guinea, with its velvety feathers of the face, might form the tran- 

 sition from the foregoing family to that of the Pittid.e which are often called the 

 'Old World ant-thrushes,' but its anatomy is yet unknown, and we, therefore, leave 

 it with the hitter, at least provisionally. 



The pittas, on account of the form of tlieir bills .and the apparently booted tarsi, 

 were by most authors held to be nearly related to the thrushes (Turdida>) until quite 

 recently, when Garrod demonslratcil their mesomyodian or 'cl.iiuatorial ' nature by 



Fig. 231. — /»i«a coronala, Bengal pitta. 



actual dissection, thus verifying Dr. Cabanis' deduction from the length of the first 

 (tenth) primary. The skull of the j)ittas e.vhibits one feature which is found in no 

 other passerine bii'd, viz., that the temjtoral fo.^sa; extend across the occipital region 

 of the skull, and nearly meet in the middle line behind. 



The species figured is the well-known Indian form Pitta coroiiata, which occurs 

 from the Ilini.'dayas to Ceylon. It is olivaceous green ; the head olivaceous ochre 

 with a black lino along the crown and one underneath each eye ; throat white, but 

 the rest of the under surface is light fawn-colored, abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 strongly washed with beautiful rose-red ; the upjier tail-coverts and the smaller upper 

 wing-coverts are shining sky-blue; on the wing a white speculum. 



Alfred Wallace has given a most excellent account of their habits and distribution, 

 from which we make copious abstracts in the following. To use his words, the pittas. 



