The Indian pitta (Pitta brachyura) is a small bird that lives in northern India and migrates to southern India in winter. Brachyura means short tail in Greek. The English name is derived from the Telugu name ‘Ponnangi Pitta’. The word ‘Pitta’ means ‘small bird’ in Telugu. It was depicted in the book ‘Synopsis methodica avium’, published in 1713 after the death of John Ray, an early British naturalist. Although it was first described by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760, it was not until 1766 that Swedish physician and zoologist Carl Linnaeus named it Indian pitta and included it in his ‘Systema Naturae’. A Sinhalese folktale says that the cries of the pitta are words accusing peacock of stealing his clothes. In Sinhala, ‘Evith giya, evith giya, ayith kiyannam, methe budun buduwana vita ayith kiyannam’ translates as: “Came and went! Came and went! I’ll still be complaining when the next Buddha comes! I’ll still be complaining!”
– Vincent Vanur
