SWIFTS, GOAT-SUCKERS, MUNIAS, ETC, 255 



condition, and so gentle that there is no risk of 

 his molesting other birds. 



The only other thrush that I have seen in gardens 

 about Calcutta is the small-billed mountain-thrush, 

 Oreocincla dauma, specimens of which now and 

 then appear during the cold weather in enclosures 

 providing conditions suiting them. They seem, as 

 a rule, to keep to the deep shade of dense groves 

 of trees, spending their time in the investigation 

 of fallen leaves, and only taking to the branches 

 as a temporary place of refuge in case of alarm. 

 The rich brown and yellow colouring of the upper 

 plumage and the white of the under surfaces are 

 very ornamental, and are so disposed as to be very 

 protective on a surface that is deeply overshadowed 

 and covered with dead leaves. In both these 

 thrushes protective colouring has been highly evolved 

 in relation to the nature of the environments which 

 they usually haunt. Both birds are habitual 

 residents of shaded coverts, but Geocichla citrina 

 prefers opener and drier places than those in which 

 the Oreocincla is usually found. The plumage of 

 the latter bird harmonises closely with the tints of 

 damp, dead leaves, and that of the former one is 

 very inconspicuous where the direct sunlight is not 

 wholly excluded and where the dead leaves abound 

 in tawny and yellow hues. 



The Indian pitta, Pitta brachyura (Plate XV.) 

 occurs in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, but certainly 



