THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 181 



identifying its notes. The stomach of one of my specimens contained 

 a beetle. 



A female from Chiang Mai, February 2, had the irides bright 

 golden-yellow; the eyelids plumbeous; the cere dull olive-green; the 

 maxilla slate, with culmen and extreme tip horn ; the mandible slate, 

 plumbeous beneath, tipped creamy white; the toes dull yellow; the 

 claws slaty black, horny at the base. Another Chiang Mai female, 

 October 4, differed in having the culmen and tip of the bill slaty green ; 

 the toes bright yellow. 



This owl has the forehead white ; the remaining upperparts uniform 

 dark brown ; the tail with blackish bars and a white tip ; the scapulars 

 and wing quills with white bars (more or less concealed) ; the feathers 

 of throat and breast rufous-brown, fringed and barred with white; 

 those of the remaining underparts white, broadly barred with rufous- 

 brown. 



The migratory northern race, N. s. scutulata, seems not to occur at 

 all in our districts. 



ATHENE BRAMA MAYRI Deignan 



Indo-Chinese Spotted Owl 



Athene brama mayri Deignan, Auk, vol. 5S, 1941, p. 396 (Udon, East Thailand). 

 Athene brama pulchra, Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 164 



(Chiang Mai) ; 1936, p. 90 (Chiang Mai). 

 Athene brama pulcra, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1934, 



p. 268 (Chiang Mai, "Tung Sio"). 



This spotted owl has a remarkably broken distribution and in our 

 area it is known only from the lowlands of a limited portion of the 

 Mae Ping basin. Eisenhofer sent to Stockholm a single specimen from 

 Khun Tan ; I have taken it at Chiang Mai, Sala Mae Tha, and Ban Sop 

 Mae Chaem. Its range with us is curiously similar to that of the rose- 

 ringed parakeet. 



It is a common species at Chiang Mai and, owing to its diurnal 

 activity, one of the best known of our owls. It has a special fondness 

 for the open groves of bamboo and mai kwao (Butea) in the environs 

 of the outvillages but is also a resident of gardens throughout the city. 

 It is the bird whose extraordinary cackling and scolding is heard about 

 town bungalows in the cool of the afternoon; investigation of the 

 noise may disclose a pair of small owls bobbing and bowing to each 

 other in the most ludicrous fashion imaginable and wholly oblivious 

 of the observer. My specimens had fed upon insects and, in one case, 

 a small mammal. 



A specimen taken December 12 had the gonads slightly enlarged, 

 another of January 5 had them enlarged, and a third of Janus.ry 20 

 had them greatly enlarged. 



