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LEUCOPITTA MAXIMA.
Great Pitta.

Pitta maxima, Miill. & Schl. Verh.. Nat. Gesch. Ned. Ind. Zool., p. 14.—Westerm. Bijdr. Dierk., p. 45, Pitta,
pl. 1.—Gray, Gen. B., i. p. 213.—Wallace, Ibis, 1859, p. 112, 1860, p. 197.—Schl. Vog. Nederl. Ind.
Pitta, p. 30.—Gray, Hand-l. B., i. p. 296.—Gould, Birds of New Guinea, part 2.

Brachyurus maximus, Bp. Consp., i. p. 253.—Elliot, Monogr. Pittidee, pl. 12.

Gigantipitta maxima, Bp. Consp. Vol. Anisod., p. 7.

Pitta gigas, Wallace, Malay Arch., il. p. 3.

Brachyurus (Leucopitta) maaima, Elliot, Ibis, 1870, p. 413.

 

Turre are several species of this form which are nearly, if not quite, equal to the present bird in size;
so that the specific name of maxima would be by no means justified if naturalists were content to class all
these birds under the heading of the genus Pitta. By many writers, however, the large Ant-Thrushes of
Malasia and the eastern Himalayas are generically separated as Hydrornis ; and Mr. George Robert Gray
was inclined to range the present bird under the same heading. In this I cannot agree; I think that it
should be kept along with the true Pitte, of course in the short-tailed group. I have, however,
thought it more convenient, in the present Monograph, to class the species under different generic
headings, as they fall so naturally into groups which possess the same form and style of coloration. By
many ornithologists I am aware that these characters will be considered only of subgeneric importance at
the most ; but the adoption of generic titles for these various groups is, to my mind, of great convenience
in a family like the Pittide.

The habitat of this beautiful bird is the Moluccan island of Gilolo. Very little has been recorded of its
habits. Mr. Wallace, in his ‘ Malay Archipelago,’ writes that during his stay in the above-mentioned island
his boy Ali shot ‘a pair of one of the most beautiful birds of the East—Pitta gigas, a large Ground-Thrush,
whose plumage of velvety black above is relieved by a breast of pure white, shoulders of azure blue, and
belly of vivid crimson. It has very long and strong legs, and hops about with such activity, in the dense
tangled forest bristling with rocks, as to make it very difficult to shoot.” From the above short note of
Mr. Wallace’s we can imagine what a beautiful sight it must be to see this finely plumaged bird in its
native forests ; and even in a tropical island like Gilolo, where brilliantly coloured birds abound, there can
be few to compete with the subject of our present article.

No description of the male bird is necessary, as it stands alone among the Pittide and has no near
allies. The Plate gives a correct idea of the plumage ; and the principal figure is full-sized.

The female is a rather smaller bird. The colouring of the bill in this Great Pitta is black, and the
legs are blackish brown; the tail is rounded at the tip, and there are no coloured bands across the base
of the tail.

 

 

 

 

 

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