It breeds in the forests of the Himalayas, hills of central and western India, and migrates to other parts of the peninsula in winter.

This illustration was included by William Derham at the end of John Ray's posthumous Synopsis methodica avium which was published in 1713.

[7] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition he included the Indian pitta, cited the earlier publications and coined the binomial name Corvus brachyura.

[9] The generic name Pitta was proposed by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 for birds with a short tail, a straight pointed beak and long wing feathers.

[13] Local names in India are based on the colours and behaviours like the time of calling and these include Hindi: Naorang, Punjabi: Nauranga (=Nine colours), Bengali: Shumcha, Cachar: Dao bui yegashi, Gujarati: Navaranga or Hariyo; Tamil: Kaachul, Aru-mani kuruvi (=6-O'Clock bird), Kathelachi, Thotta kallan; Telugu: Polanki pitta, Ponnangi pitta; Malayalam: Kavi; Kannada: Navaranga and Sinhala: Avichchiya.

"[15] The Indian pitta is a small stubby-tailed bird that is mostly seen on the floor of forests or under dense undergrowth, foraging on insects in leaf litter.

The upper parts are green, with a blue tail, the underparts buff, with bright red on the lower belly and vent.

[3] They have a habit of calling once or twice, often with neighbouring individuals joining in, at dawn or dusk leading to their common name of "Six-O-Clock" bird in Tamil.

[27] The nest is a globular structure with a circular opening on one side built on the ground or on low branches.

The clutch is four to five eggs which are very glossy white and spherical with spots and speckles of deep maroon or purple.