individuals are always to be seen in the cold weather on the rocky cliffs by the sea-side 
and on the stony hills inland.” Mount Aboo specimens have a greenish tinge on the 
superciliaries and on the sides of the breast. 
In the Central Provinces Mr. Blewitt states that it breeds in July and August in the 
neighbourhood of Raipur, and, according to Hume, in the Dhoon and northern parts of 
Rohilcund. The nest is a huge globular structure, nine inches in diameter by six inches 
high and four inches inside diameter, composed externally of dry leaves held in place by 
fine roots or twigs, and externally of twigs of the tamarisk and grass-roots. Itis placed in 
brushwood or scrub-jungle or on low bushes. 
Mr. Ball found this Pitta in Chota Nagpur. When uttering its note “wheét-pe-ú,” he 
says it puts back its head as far as possible and jerks it forward again as it concludes with 
~ 99 
рей.” Не saw it mostly perched on trees, and met with it in valleys and well-wooded 
districts, and it did not seem to care for the vicinity of water. It was extremely shy. 
Subsequently he discovered that it had a very sweet Thrush-like song, resembling that 
of the Shama. 
In Ceylon this Pitta is a migrant, arriving in the month of October, according to Legge, 
in vast numbers, spreading all over the low country and throughout the jungles of the 
Central Provinces up to the Nuwara-Eliya plateau, he, however, it is not so numerous. 
However, it is probably resident there, as Mr. Holdsworth (l. e.) says he has seen them in 
August. Individuals used to visit the Suriya trees near his house at Aripo every evening 
and utter a cry like “© a-viteh-i-a,” which is followed frequently by a low hissing scream. 
When alarmed they flew to the hedge and hid in its thickest part. A common attitude was 
standing on а branch, with the body and head perpendicular, legs straight, and tail turned 
upwards. Mr. Bligh, writing to Legge, says they rarely come up so high as Haputale 
(4500 feet), though he has seen them at over 5000 feet elevation, but he never heard one 
call at such a height, although 1500 feet below their cry was sounding on all sides at 
roosting-time. Throughout the northern forest-tract and near Trincomalie they are 
abundant, even to the sea-beach where the shore is lined with scrub, and their cry is heard 
everywhere. In the Western Provinces it is numerous, but not so abundant in the south- 
western wooded districts, where there is much humid timber-forest, which it seems 
to avoid. 
In the * Birds of Ceylon’ Legge has given a very full account of the habits of this Pitta 
as observed by him. He says it is known to the Singhalese as the “ Avitchia,” and lives 
in the thick cover, rarely showing itself in the open. It loves thick woods and the 
secondary jungle which has grown up after the forests have been cleared. It goes in 
pairs, but the individuals are rarely in close proximity. The cry is uttered in the morning 
and again towards sundown when seeking their roosting-places. For such purposes they 
are fond of resorting to bushy trees like the lime and orange, and will travel some distance 
to reach them. Their flight is performed quickly but irregularly, and the bird is very 
adroit in darting around the trunks of trees. 
