MELANOPITTA CUCULLATA, 
Hooded Pitta. 
Pitta cucullata, Hartl. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1833, p. 65.— Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 213 (1846).— Blyth, Cat. B. 
Mus. As. See. p. 157 (1849).— Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854, p. 274.— Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. E.I. 
Co. Mus. ii. p. 399 (1856).— Cass. U.S. Expl. Exp. Birds, p. 437 (1858).— Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 504 
(1862).— Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 295 (1869).— Gould, B. Asia, part xxx. (1877).— Hume & Da\ison, 
Str. F. 1878, p. 245. — Hume, Str. F. 1879, pp. 59, 94. 
Pitta nigricolUs, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xii. p. 960 (1843). 
Pitta rhodogaster, Hodgs. J. A. S. Beng. xii. p. 961 (1843). 
Pitta malaccensis, Miill. & Schleg. Verb, natuurl. Geseh., fol., Zool. Pitta, p. 19 (1844). 
Pitta coromta, Peak, U.S. Expl. Exped. Birds, p. 891 (1848). 
Brachyurus cucullatus, Bp. Consp. i. p. 255 (1850).— Elliot, Monogr. Pittidte, pi. xxvii. (1863).— Hume, Str. 
Feathers, 1875, p. 109.— Blyth & Walden, Birds of Burma, p. 98 (1875). 
Melanopitta cucullata. Bp. Consp. Volucr. Anis. p. 7 (1854).— Hume, Str. Feathers, 1874, p. 475.— Id. Nests and 
Eggs Ind. B. p. 225 (1875). 
This species is ratlier an aberrant member of the subgenus Melanopitta, inasmuch as it has the head 
chestnut instead of black as is usual with the memhers of this seetion ; hut the rest of its coloration shows 
that it is a close ally of the typical members of the black-headed group. Like the other memhers of the 
family, it is evidently a migratory bird, and breeds in Nepal and the Eastern Himalayas. Mr. Hume, who 
has translated many of the original notes from Mr. Hodgson’s MS., states that the latter gentleman found 
a Hooded Pitta breeding in the central regions of Nepal and about Darjeeling in April and May. They 
build large globular nests, one of which measured nearly G’75 inches externally and had a circular 
opening fully 3 inches in diameter on one side. They place their nests very generally on the ground, 
in clumps of bamboos; and they construct them of dry bamboo leaves and twigs, and stems of plants, firmly 
and compactly interwoven. The exterior is rough and strong ; the interior lined with soft vegetable fibres. 
They lay four eggs, very broad oval, glossy, with a pinky white ground, pretty thickly spotted all over with 
reddish and brownish purple ; an egg figured measures 0‘96 by 0'79 inch. Dr. Jerdon observes that 
he “ procured one specimen, which was killed hyaLepcha when seated on her nest on the banks of the Great 
Rungit river, about 1200 feet above the sea. The nest was composed chiefly of roots and other fibrous 
matter, with a few hairs, and contained three eggs of a faint greenish white with a few reddish and some 
fawn-coloured spots.” Mr. Hume also states that it is very common in Sikhim. Blyth, in his ‘ Birds 
of Burmah,’ mentions its occurrence in the Khasia Hills and in Arakau ; and Captain Wardlaw Ramsay 
obtained it at Rangoon, as did also Captain Feilden at Thayetmyo. Writing of its occurrence in Upper 
Pegu, Mr. Oates remarks : — “ I met with this bird in one ravine only, in the evergreen forests, where I 
procured several specimens. I searched many precisely similar localities, hut never again met with it.” 
It was doubtless on migration that the species was procured by Mr. Oates on the above-mentioned 
occasion ; for it is stated by Mr. Hume to be only a seasonal visitant to the southern and central portions 
of Tenasserim ; and it is doubtless only as a migrant that it is met with in the Malayan peninsula. 
Mr. Davison’s note on the bird in Tenasserim is as follow's : — “ This species is much rarer and more of a 
forest bird than P. moluccensis. Its call is similar, but not nearly so often heard — firstly because the bird 
is only about one tenth as numerous, and secondly because those that are there call much less frequently. 
These also sit about in trees a great deal, and, like P. moluccensis, are, I believe, merely migrants, as I have 
only shot them from April to July.” 
Body green above; head light chestnut-browm, the lores, eyebrow's, sides of face, sides of neck, as well 
as the hind part of the latter and throat, black; upper tail-coverts rich cobalt; least Aving-coverts rich 
cohalt ; primaries Avith a broad band of white ; under surface of body green ; on the ujiper abdomen a 
black patch ; the lower abdomen and under tail-coverts scarlet, thighs brow'u. The soft parts are described 
by Mr. Oates as follows : — “ The hill was black, the inside of the mouth dusky fleshy, irides dark coffee- 
brown, eyelids pale plumbeous fleshy pink, claws pinkish horny.” 
All Avriters agree that specimens from the Eastern Himalayas are perfectly Identical with those from the 
Burmese provinces and Malacca ; some of the birds, however, have the back striped with dusky; and these 
I take to be immature. 
Tbe figures in the Plate, which are draAvn from specimens in my collection, are of the natural size. 
[R. B. S.] 
