ON THE GENUS PITTA. 265 



Tarse de 2 a 4 lignes plus long. Mandibule superieure beaucoup moins 

 carenee et, a sa partie anterieure, arrondie et plus large. Plastron noir de la 

 gorge s'etendant jusque sur le milieu du jabot. Le jaune-vert argente et 

 luisant qui occupe, dans la P, novcE guinece, le jabot et la poitrine, est 

 remplace par un vert fonce et non pas luisant. Tache noir de Tabdomen 

 remplacee par du rouge. Bleu des flancs plus vif et plus brillant. Une 

 tache blanche a Taile. 



" Tarse 20 lignes et demie a 21 lignes et demie. 



" 1^ 2, 3. Males : tues en Mars 1869 ; Soek (von Rosenberg). 



"4, 5, 6. Femelles : tuees en Mars 1869 ; Soek (yon Rosenberg)/' 



With reference to Mr. Wallace's remark, that though called Ant- 

 Thrushes, he had never found that they had eaten ants, but simply coleoptera, 

 Dr. T. C. Jerdon says (Ibis, April 1872, 3rd ser. vol. ii. p. 133) that "Mr. 

 Blanford found black ants in one specimen [of Pitta bengalensis~\^ v^hite ants in 

 others." Dr. Meyer, in his letter to me, says that in Pitta rosenbergi he 

 found insects. The living example of Pitta bengalensis now at the Zoological 

 Gardens, Regent's Park, has two sorts of food : — the one (for Thrushes) a 

 mixture of rice, boiled carrots, and potato, mixed with cut raisins, crumbs of 

 bread, crushed hemp-seed, and hard-boiled egg ; the other (for Nightingales 

 &c.), bread-crumbs, meat cut fine, hard-boiled eggs, and boiled carrot. 



As it is not often that a living Pitta can be closely observed, I perhaps 

 may be excused for adding, of P. bengalensis^ that this individual has never 

 been heard to utter any sound. It hops about all day, is crepuscular in its 

 habits, and retires late. In the afternoon it stands on one leg, with the head 

 drawn in. The nature of this species is to be extremely shy, in flight very 

 rapid, and the turning evolution is peculiarly graceful. It does not run, but 

 jumps about the ground in bounces double its own length. When a meal- 

 worm was thrown to it, it spread its wings and tail, showing its beautiful 



VOL. II. 2 o 



