THE SINGING BIRDS. 229 



azure patch decorates the region of the shoulder. The eye is nut-brown, the beak black, and the 

 foot reddish yellow. The length of the body is seven inches, that of the wing four, and the tail 

 measures one inch and two-thirds. The Nurang is met with throughout the whole of India and 

 Ceylon, and in some localities is very numerous. 



THE PULIH. 



The Pulih {Pitta Angolensis) one of the most beautiful birds of Western Africa, is more 

 powerfully constructed, and has shorter feet than the last-mentioned species, but is similarly coloured. 

 The plumage on the upper part of the body is green, with a slight metallic lustre ; the top of the 

 head, a broad cheek-stripe, the tail, lower wing-covers, and quills are black, the latter, from the third 

 to the sixth, enlivened by a white spot ; the tips of the tail-feathers and those upon the rump are 

 greenish blue, the throat and a streak over the eyes reddish white ; the upper breast is ochre-yellow, 

 the lower part of the body light scarlet, the beak reddish black, and the foot flesh-pink. The length 

 of the body is six inches and a quarter, that of the wing four, and the tail one inch and two-thirds. 

 The Pulih inhabits a large portion of Western Africa. 



THE NOISY PITTA. 



The Noisy Pitta {Pitta strepitans) the third species we have selected for description, is of 

 a beautiful olive-green on the back and wings ; the shoulders and wing-covers are of the colour 

 of verdigris ; the throat, region of the ears, and nape, black ; the under side is reddish yellow, with) 

 a black and scarlet patch on the belly and lower tail-covers, the rest of the tail and exterior quills 

 are black, the fourth, fifth, and sixth primaries being ornamented with a white spot upon the base. 

 The eye is brown, the beak dark brown, and the foot flesh-pink. The body is seven inches and a 

 half long. This beautiful bird is met with on the eastern coast of Australia, between Macquarie and 

 Moreton Bays. 



The Pittas almost exclusively inhabit India and the neighbouring islands, Western Africa, and 

 Australia, and are never met with in the Western Hemisphere. Of the thirty-three species enumerated 

 by Wallace, six belong to Africa, two to Australia, and no less than twenty-five to the Malay Islands. 

 Almost all frequent the inmost recesses of vast forests, whilst a few, on the contrary, occupy such 

 rocky districts as are coverea with brushwood. Jerdon is of opinion that their very inferior powers 

 of flight place them almost at the mercy of the heavy winds that occur at certain seasons, and 

 account for their being occasionally compelled to steer their course for localities to which they 

 would not voluntarily resort. The first Nurang seen by him had taken shelter from a storm within 

 the hospital at Madras. 



All the various species respecting whose breeding we have any particulars, build close to the 

 ground, and form their nests carelessly of grass, stalks, twigs, or roots, lined with hair, moss, or 

 delicate leaves. The eggs vary considerably in appearance ; those found by Bernstein were oval, and 

 had a glossy white shell, whHst other authorities tell us that those laid by some species are bright 

 yellow, irregularly marked with brown and deep purplish grey, while others again are greenish white, 

 spotted with red and other dark tints. It has not yet been ascertained whether the male assists in 

 the labour of incubation, but both parents co-operate with the utmost courage and devotion in 

 tending and protecting their young family. Strange informs us that the Australian species may be 

 allured to come down from the trees, even almost to the mouth of the gun, by a careful imitation 

 of their call-note, and Hodgson speaks in similar terms of those inhabiting Nepaul. Bernstein 

 succeeded in rearing a pair of Pittas that he had taken from the nest upon insect diet, and also 

 rendered them extremely tame. 



