-Ten. 
PITTA BENGALENSIS. 
Beng*al Pitta. 
Pitta hengalei^sis, Vieill. Enc. Meth. Orn., 2® partie, p. 685. — Jerd. Birds of India, vol. i. p. 503. — Gould, Birds 
of Asia, pt. 23 (1871). 
Pitta hrachyura, Less. Traite d’Orn., p. 394. — Gould, Cent, of Himal. Birds, pi. xxiii. 
Pitta coronata (P. L. S. Muller), G. B. Gray, Hand-list of Birds, part i. p. 294. — Capt. Legge, Birds of Ceylon, 
pt. ii. p. 687. 
Pitta triostequs (Sparrm.), Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 157. 
Corviis hrachyurus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1766, vol. i. p. 158. 
Tardus triostegiis, Sparrm. Mus. Carls., pi. 84. 
[To give all the different names 'which have been applied to old species would he useless.] 
In Jerdon’s ‘Birds of India ’ it is stated that “ this prettily plutnaged Ground-Thrush is common in the 
Indian forests, but is also occasionally met with in every part of the country that is tolerably wooded. 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 Ghats ; for, being birds of feeble flight, they are unable to contend against the 
strength of the wind. At this time they take refuge in huts and houses, or any building that will afford 
them shelter. The first bird of this kind that I saw had taken refuge in the General Hospital at Madras 5 
and subsequently, at Nellore, I obtained majiy alive under the same circumstances. Layard states that 
in Ceylon it is migratory, coming in with the Snipe in the beginning of the cold weather. He further 
remarks that it is shy and wary, resorting to tangled brakes and ill-kept native gardens. It seldom alights 
on trees, and is generally found single ; but I have seen three or four together ; and it feeds chiefly on the 
ground, on various coleopterous insects. Like others of its family, it progresses by ho])ping, and is in 
general a most silent bird, hut is said to emit at times a fine loud whistling note. Its Siugalese name is 
said to be derived from its call — Amtch-i-a, pronounced slowly and distinctly. Blyth was informed that it 
uttered a loud screeching note.” In the North-west Province of Ceylon, according to Captain Legge, the 
native name is Aylttd ; and a correspondent, Mr. Parker, sent him the following explanation : — “ It is said 
that this bird once possessed the Peacock’s plumes ; but one day, when he was bathing, the Peacock stole his 
dress ; ever since that he has gone about the jungle calling for them, ‘ Ayittam, ayittam ’ (my dress, my dress). 
Another legend is that the Pitta was formerly a prince who was deeply itj love with a beautiful princess. 
His father sent him to travel for some years, as was in olden times the custom with princes here. When 
he returned, the princess was dead ; and the unfortunate prince wandered disconsolately about, continually 
calling her by name, ‘ Ayitta, Ayitta.’ Out of pity to him, the gods transformed him into this bird.” A very 
good account of the habits of this Pitta will he found in Capt. Legge’s ‘ Birds of Ceylon,’ to which island 
it is a winter visitant. The nest and eggs are described by Mr. Hume in his work entitled ‘ Nests and 
Eggs of Indian Birds ’ (p. 224). 
There is no apparent dilference in the colouring of the sexes ; hut specimens frequently occur among the 
skins sent to England with dark elongated marks down the stem of the feathers of the hack and rump, 
while in others these parts are uniform in colour. Other dilferences also occasionally present themselves, 
the superciliary stripe being in some instances brownish buff, while in others it is of a lighter hue and, 
moreover, marked with green. 
A line down the centre of the head from the bill to the nape black, narrow from the forehead to the 
crown, thence to the nape wide ; a narrow black line under the eye, continued in a broader one down the 
sides of the neck, unites with the black at the nape ; upj)er surface and greater wing-coverts dark grass- 
green ; lesser wing-coverts glossy verditer-blue ; rump and upper tail-coverts the same ; primaries black, 
with pale bluish-grey tips, and with a large patch of white about tbe middle of their length, forming a 
conspicuous oval mark when the wing is spread ; the secondaries are also black, conspicuously tipped with 
white, and the external ones margined with green ; on the apical portion of the black, in those nearer the 
body, the green gradually increases in breadth till the black is nearly invisible ; under surface of the wing 
black, interrupted by the oval spot of white, faintly tinged with blue ; tail black, tipped with blue ; chin 
and sides of the neck creamy white ; breast and under surface light cinnamon-brown, brightest on the 
breast ; vent and under tail-coverts bright scarlet ; bill black, with a fleshy brown base ; irides hazel ; legs 
and feet pinkish flesh-colour. 
The Plate represents an adult male and a younger bird, both of the natural size. 
