Graceful Pitta Erythropitta venusta Scientific name definitions

18 cm. Blackish-maroon head with bright sky-blue postocular stripe ; upperparts, wings, throat and upper breast dark brown with purplish tinge, upperwing-coverts faintly edged violet-blue; long tail dark brown; lower breast and belly scarlet; iris dark brown; bill black; feet purple-black or pale blue. Sexes alike. Juvenile is plain dark brown, postocular stripe buffish, iris greyish, bill tipped red, feet pinkish-grey.

Moist dark forest with ravines and dense understorey. From 400 m to 1400 m, occasionally 1600 m.

Presumably resident, though may make local altitudinal movements.

Insects, small snails, small bugs (Hemiptera), worms and seeds recorded. Foraging behaviour poorly documented; feeds on ground, sometimes on top of fallen logs.

Produces low mournful whistle of 1·3–2 seconds’ duration, lower-pitched than that of E. granatina.

Only one nesting record, in May, and few observations of juveniles suggest season May–Jul, but possibly Feb–Oct. Nest domed, loosely constructed of dead leaves and bamboo leaves, fine roots and decayed fibres and moss, placed 60 cm above ground among leaves of orchid growing on trunk of fallen tree. Clutch 2–3 eggs, dull creamy with buffish and dark brown spots, freckles and scratchy lines and underlying grey-lilac spots, c. 23 × 19 mm; no other information.

VULNERABLE. Restricted-range species: present in Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia EBA. Rare and apparently very local, and probably declining. Known from few localities, and records infrequent, even taking into account its skulking behaviour and the few ornithological visits to the Sumatran uplands. Occurs in Kerinci-Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Parks; recent records from Rimbo Kulit Manis in 1985, and from Mt Kaba, Liwa-Krui, Tandai (in Kerinci-Seblat National Park) and below Bukit Tapan in latter half of 1990s. Forest destruction, degradation and fragmentation are the main threats; almost all lowland forest within the species’ range already destroyed and probably c. 40% of montane forest lost, mostly as a result of shifting cultivation. Owing to rapidly growing human population in Sumatra and the continuing rapid rate of deforestation, even within protected areas (especially Kerinci-Seblat National Park), there is an urgent need for more field data in order to provide a basis for formulation of the necessary conservation strategy. Effective management and enforcement of laws relating to protected areas considered essential. Not known from the cagebird trade; this pitta has been legally protected since 1931, but hunting with air-guns and ground snares seems to be a problem.