4 
Pittas, 
bluish bird, about the size of a quail, but before you h^ive had ti'hie to 
CNaniinc it properly it will have taKen to its wings and disappeared into the 
hedge. Those who are not so foriunaie as to have jiittas on tiie premises 
may he tolerably certain of seeing a speeimen by visiting the well-wooded 
plot of land bordered on the west by the canal and on the south by the Adyar 
River." 
" This bird is about seven inches in length. Thus it does not measure 
tuucli more than a sparrow, but it is considerably larger, for the tail is very- 
short, barely one inch and a half in length the Indians m 
some parts call it the naurang — the nine colours. The bird may truly be 
said to be arrayed in a coat of many colours. Unfortunately such a garment 
is apt to to lead to trouble. Even as the coat of many colours brought 
tribulation u])on Joseph of old, so does the much-coveted, multi-hued jiluniage 
of the ])itta frequently bring death to its i)ossessor.' 
" Apart from the colouring, it is impossible to confound the pitta with 
an)- other bird. Its long legs and its apology for a tail recall the Sandpiper, 
but tliere is nothing else snippet-like about it. The classification of the 
bird has puzzled many a wise head. It has been various!)- called the Madras 
Jay, the liengal Quail, the Short-tailed Pye, the Ant-thrush, the Panned 
Thrush and the Ground Thrush. But it is not a jay, neither is it a quail, 
nor a thrush, nor a tail-less pye. It is a bird made on a special model. It 
belongs to a peculiar family, to a branch of the great order ot perching birds, 
which differs from all other clans in some important imatomical details. 
Into these we will not go, for they belong to morphology, the science which 
concerns itself chiefly with the dry bones of zoology, with the lifeless aspect 
of the science of life." 
" The Indian pitta is a bird which iikes warmth, but not heat, so that 
it refuses to live in the Punjab, where the climate is one of extremes — a spell 
of cold, then a headlong rush into a period of intense heat, followed by an 
equally sudden return to a low tenipcalure. The jiilta seems to occur in 
all parts of I'.asterri, Central, and Southern India, undergoing local migration 
to the South in the autumn and back again in the spring. In places 
where the climate is never very hot or very cold, as, for example, Madras and 
the hills in Ceylon, some individuals seem to remain throughout the year. 
I have seen pittas in Madras at all seasons, and 1 know of no better testi- 
monial lo the excellence of the climate of that city. Jerdon writes of the 
jiilta : ' 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 l>een blown, by the strong wind, from 
the Eastern Ghauts, for, being birds of feeble flight, they are unalile to 
contend against the strength of the wind. At this time they take refuge 
in huts, outhouses, or any building that will afford them shelter. The first 
liird 1 saw of this kind had taken sheher in the General Hospital at Madras: 
and subsequentl)' at Nellore I obtained many alive under the same circum- 
stances.' Other observers have had similar experiences. Bligh, fpr 
instance, states that in Ceylon pittas arc frequently caught in bungalows on 
coffee estates on cold and stormy days. 
" It is strange that so reth-ing a bird as the pitta should find its way 
