ON THE GENUS PITTA. 263 



speaks of the Pittidse as one of the two Old- World groups belonging to the 

 Formicarioid Passeres, with a very restricted distribution ; and he expresses 

 his admiration of the exquisitely coloured Pittas of the Oriental Region 

 (vol. i. p. 316). 



Mr. W. A. Forbes (Nature, Nov. 16, 1876, p. 58) writes as follows : — 

 " There are three famihes (i. e. Paictid'de, Pittidse, Eurylsemidse), instead 

 of two, of the Formicarioid Passeres in the Old World, of which the Pittidse 

 can hardly be said to have ^a very restricted distribution.' Vol. i. p. 16, 

 Mr. Wallace describes them as short- winged birds, ' such as Toucans, Pittas, 

 and Wrens,' which ' can fly very few miles at a time/ Certainly the wing 

 of the British Wren is the very type of a cup-shaped organ of short flight, 

 and the owner is one of the few English species which, one would fancy, 

 never crossed the sea ; yet there is reason to suppose that it may. 

 "At vol. ii. p. 297 Mr. Wallace speaks of the Pittidse thus :— 



u c PiTTiD^ (4 genera, 40 species). 



a i 



" ' Palsearctic subregion . 



uai/cui(/» 



. -,-,-,4 



Ethiopian subregion 



. 



■ -, 2,-,- 



Oriental subregions 



. 



. 1, 2, 3, 4 



Australian subregions . 



. • 



. 1,2,-,-' 



'^ He states that these Thrush-like birds ^ are more nearly allied to the 

 South-American Pteroptochidse than to any other family.' They are most 

 abundant in the Malay archipelago, between the Oriental and Australian 

 divisions of which they are pretty equally divided. They seem, however, to 

 attain their maximum of beauty and variety in the large islands of Borneo 

 and Sumatra, from whence they diminish in numbers in every direction, till 

 we find single species only in North China, West Africa, and Australia." 



