and elegance. By imitating the note it can readily be called within a few feet of the 
sportsman. As it approaches its concealed pursuer it runs for a few yards, then stops 
and calls, and seems much excited at not finding its mate. The note resembles the words 
99 
2 
“want a wat(ch),” and is easily imitated by whistling. This Pitta is rarely seen away 
from the ground, although oceasionally one may perch ten or twenty feet high on some 
Hmb, and when alarmed it does not take wing but runs noiselessly with all speed and 18 
soon hidden from view. 
It feeds upon various species of Helix, and is accustomed to break the shells by striking 
them against a stone, and is then able to draw out and swallow their contents. Stones 
are not very common in the brush, and when the noisy Pitta has found one, he makes 
use of it as much as possible, seizing upon some Helix and running with it to the stone, 
and with a few sharp raps breaks the shell into pieces. Portions of these from a number 
of species, some as large as H. fraseri, have been found near the stones used by this 
Pitta, and a very good idea of the different forms occurring in the vieinity can be 
derived from an investigation of the fragments found in such localities, and several new 
and rare species have been discovered by means of the “after dinner ” fragments left by 
this Pitta. It lives well in confinement, and one was kept by a Mr. MacGillivray in a 
cage for some time. At first he ote the snail-shells he gave it, but on furnishing the 
bird with a stone and a supply of Helices, it required no further assistance to get at the 
contents. 
Specimens of this Pitta from Cape York and Northern Australia are smaller in size, 
though exactly the same in colour of plumage, in the note, nidification, and colour of 
eggs. The size also varies greatly among individuals, which fact caused Sclater to remark, 
on examining the specimens in the British Museum, that examples “in the series, of 
different dimensions, are difficult to assign to either form without knowing the locality.” 
Ramsay mentions а distinction (Ibis, 1867, р. 416), which he thought might be а 
character, viz. а variation in the extent of the white patch on the primaries, which he 
says extends over two feathers only in the northern bird, but on the fourth, fifth, and 
sixth of the larger form. In the type of P. simillima this white mark is confined to a 
small round spot on the outer web of the fourth primary, and is not wanting, but, on the 
contrary, is very conspicuous on the fifth and sixth primaries, as in the larger race. It 
does not seem to be necessary to recognize two forms, even of subspecific value, as it is 
apparently impossible to assign any geographical limits to either the large or small birds. 
They seem to mingle together about Moreton Bay. 
The nest as described by Ramsay is а dome-shaped structure with a large opening on 
the side, outwardly formed of roots, twigs, and moss, and lined with fine roots, moss, and 
a few feathers. It is placed upon the ground, or a few inches above it in the stems of 
trees. The eggs, four in number, are white or bluish-white, marked with irregularly shaped 
brown or blackish-brown spots, dispersed evenly over the surface, with obsolete bluish-grey 
spots, usually largest at the thickest end. Length 1:2 to 1:3 inch by ‘9 to 1 inch in 
