INTRODUCTION. хх1 
to-day. That these various island-groups are but the remains of some vast continent, or 
possibly continents, rearing themselves above the waste of waters that has engulfed all 
else of the ancient land, is probably a fact; but no terrestrial disturbance, with its 
accompanying phenomena of rise and fall of ocean-beds, or depression or elevation of 
vast extent of land-areas, or the splitting a continent into numerous islands of more or less 
extent and scattering them over immense distances of sea, can in any way satisfactorily 
account for the frequent extraordinary dispersion and dissimilar habitats which many 
species of the Prrrrp possess, with little or no perceptible variation in the plumage or 
structure of individuals. The Pitta may be considered to-day as essentially a group of the 
Oriental Region, with outlying connections in neighbouring Regions. The species known 
to us at the present time are probably but the survivors of what was once a great and 
brilliantly plumaged group, inhabiting a vast extent of territory. The majority of species 
have long since become extinct, and those remaining represent the few which have, 
through what may be termed fortuitous occurrences, been able to keep themselves above 
water, when the greater portion of their habitats disappeared beneath the waves. In 
reviewing the geographical distribution of the species known to us, although many changes 
have since been made, I have, as in my other works, employed the terms first suggested 
by Wallace and Sclater for the various divisions of the earth they il ; and I commence 
with the Ethiopian Region ; and on the west coast of Africa, north of the Gulf of Guinea, 
in Fantee and Ashantee, a single typical species is found, P. ANGOLENSIS. Its nearest 
relative is probably P. Bracuyura (Linn.), of the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon in the 
Oriental Region, from which it is separated by the breadth of a continent and a half, and a 
great extent of а апа oceanic islands, and nowhere in all this vast portion of the globe 
between the points named does any species of Pitta dwell. This establishes one of the 
most remarkable facts of geographical distribution known in ornithology. 
In the Oriental Region, which, containing as it does by far the largest number of species 
of this Family, we may consider the home of the Prrra, I commence with the Indian 
Subregion, consisting of the Indian Peninsula and the island of Ceylon, sometimes desig- 
nated as the Ceylonese Subregion, and we find P. brachyura (Linn.) distributed generally 
throughout its boundaries. In Nepal are P. nepalensis, which passes through Assam to 
Pegu, and P. cucullata, inhabiting the same districts, but ranging through Tenasserim and 
the Malay Peninsula, appearing again in the island of Bangka, east of the southern end of 
Sumatra, but not found either on the last-named island nor on any of those intervening 
between it and the southern end of the Malay Peninsula. In Bhutan the beautiful P. cyanea 
is found, ranging into Siam; while Burmah, besides the species already named, has 
Р. moluccensis and P. megarhyncha going through the Malay Peninsula, the first also found 
in Siam, and the latter in Bangka. Pegu contains P. oatesi, in addition to those given 
above, which ranges into Tenasserim, where it is Joined by Anthocincla phayrei, P. cerulea, 
Р. granatina, and E. qurneyi, not heretofore mentioned. All of these, excepting the first 
and last named, extend their range through the Malay Peninsula; but А. phayrei is 
restricted to the Karen Hills and Tenasserim, while Z. gurneyi has not yet been procured 
beyond the last-named province. In Cambodja and Cochin China, of the Indo-Chinese 
