690 PITTA COEONATA. 



an elevation in this district. On the other hand, if I step down to a friend's 1500 feet helow me, at 6 o'clock 

 their peculiar cry (like attempting to whistle the words ' quite clear ' in a moderately high key) can be heard 

 on all sides calling each other to roost." This Pitta is very abundant throughout the northern forest tract ; 

 and near Trincomalie they may be heard everywhere, even close to the sea-beach where the shore is lined 

 with scrub. Its well-kuown cry I have often listened to in the woods just beyond the cinnamon-gardens; 

 and throughout the Western Province it is very numerous ; but I do not think its numbers are so great ii 

 the south-western wooded districts, as there is a considerable quantity of humid timber-forest in that part, and 

 which is the only kind of country that I have noticed it avoid. 



Jerdon remarks of its distribution in India as follows : — " This prettily-plumaged Thrush is found 

 throughout the whole of India, from the sub-Himalayan range to Cape Comorin; but it is never found on 



the east side of the Bay of Bengal In the Carnatic it chiefly occurs in the beginning of the hot weather 



when the land-winds first begin to blow with violence from the west ; and the birds, in many instances, 

 appear to have been blown by the strong wind from the Eastern Ghats, for, being birds of feeble flight, they 

 are unable to contend against the strength of the wind." 



These remarks tend to show that there is a seasonal movement of this Pitta; but in this case it is noted as 

 from west to east. Its migration to and from Ceylon, however, shows that the chief movement is from north 

 to south and vice versa ; they avoid the cold climate of Northern India and the Central Provinces ; and 

 when this is over, about May, great numbers have been observed to move towards those districts from Southern 

 India and Ceylon. Mr. Hume thus dwells upon its migrations (Str. Feath. 1877, p. 416) in connexion with 

 a remark of Mr. Ball's concerning its movements from the south to the Central Provinces : — " In regard to 

 the present species I may remark that the migration extends much further than the Central Provinces. They 

 arrive in Bareilly about the beginning of the rains, sometimes earlier ; in the Dhoon they become very common 

 early in the hot weather. In this latter place some few may be permanent residents, but the great bulk of the 

 birds are migrants from the south. To the Berars and to the forests about Hoshungabad it is a regular migrant. 

 It straggles up even into the semi-desert country of Kattiawar, Northern Guzerat, and the Sambhur Lake. 

 It comes up in numbers to the northern districts of Oudh and Behar. I have caught a specimen in my house 

 at Chowringee, Calcutta, in May. Throughout the length and breadth of the country it moves, during 

 April, May, and June, from the extreme south to all suitable localities in the north (at any rate west of the 

 Brahmapootra), great numbers reaching the bases of the Himalayas or sub-Himalayan ranges." 



The Rev. Dr. Fairbank speaks of having seen three iu the city of Ahmednagar, and says that numbers 

 arrive in the Khaudala district in May. Mr. Ball met with it in sal-forest in Gangpur, and records it from 

 many places between the Ganges and the Godaveri, but not from the Rajmehal hills. It is, as has been 

 already remarked, only a straggler into the north-western parts of India. Captain Butler considers it very 

 rare about Mount Aboo ; and Mr. Adam only notes a single specimen obtained near the Sambhur Lake. 



Habits.— 'Liu* handsome bird, so well known to the Singhalese as the "Avitchia," is, almost more than any 

 ■ it her migratory bird to Ceylon, a denizen of thick cover. It rarely shows itself in the open; and those who 

 do not take particular pains to make its acquaintance might listen to its familiar evening cry, season after 

 season, without ever seeing it. It especially loves copses, thick woods, underwood, and overgrown waste land, 

 and in forest districts is usually found where the timber has been cleared and secondary jungle has grown up. 

 Nevertheless while wandering about iu tolerably open forest anywhere north of Kurunegala I have frequently 

 seen it and flushed it near pathways; and in damp muggy weather, or on very cloudy days, listened to its 

 strange cry all day long, and over and over again seen it fly to the low limb of a large tree, where it would sit 

 for an instant cocking its tail up with a quick Rail-like movement, and then dart off into the surrounding 

 cover. More than two are, I should say, scarcely ever seen together, and it is a rare thing to find even two 

 in close proximity. They utter their cry iu the morning until about 8 o'clock, and commence it again as 

 the sun is neariug the horizon, becoming most noisy at sundown. At this time, when calling to each other, 

 they fly about in search of roosting-places. Their flight is quick and irregular, reminding one of that of the 

 Lapwing, and they dart round the trunks of trees very adroitly. Its note, which I have alluded to, and which 

 Mr. Ball just as aptly renders by the words wheet-pe-u, is preceded often by a shrill churr or call ; that is to 

 say, this note is heard usually before the long-drawn cry, this, I imagine, being only uttered as a call-note 



