690 
PITTA COEONATA. 
an elevation in this district. On the other haud^ if I step down to a friend’s 1500 feet below mej 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 everywlierej even close to the sea-beach where the shore is lined 
with scrub. Its well-known 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 arc so great ii 
the south- westeru wooded districts, as there is a considerable quantity of humid timber-forest in that part, and 
W'hich 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 Grhats, 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 Avest to east. Its migration to and from Ceylon, however, shoAvs that the chief movement is from north 
to south and vice versd-, they avoid the cold climate of Northern India and the Central Provinces; and 
Avhen 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 migi’ants from the south. Tp 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-IIimalayan ranges.” 
The Rev. Dr. Fairbank speaks of having seen three in the city of Abraednagar, and says that numbers 
arrive in the Khandala district in May. Mr. Ball met with it in sal-forest iu 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. 
This handsome bird, sow'ell known to the Singhalese as the “Avitebia,” is, almost more than any 
other migratory bird to Ceylon, a denizen of thick cover. It rarely shows itself in the open ; and tliose who 
do not take particular pains to make its acquaintance might listen to its familiar evening cry, season after 
season, without eA^er 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 groAvn up. 
Nevertheless while Avandering about in tolerably open forest anywhere north of Kurunegala I have frequently 
seen it and flushed it near pathways ; and in damp muggy Aveather, 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 tAvo 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 in the morning until about 8 o’clock, and commence it again as 
the sun is nearing the horizon, becoming most noisy at sundown. At this time, Avheu calling to each other 
they fly about in search of roosting-places. Their flight is quick and irregular, reminding one of that of the 
LapAving, 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 
