THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 199 



tinct dark edgings to the feathers at the base of the bill and at the 

 sides of the breast; the chin and throat white and clearly defined 

 from the remaining underparts, which are brownish orange, albescent 

 at the center of the abdomen. 



CERYLE RUDIS LEUCOMELANURA Reichenbach 



Indian Lesser Pied Kingfisher 



C[eryle] leucomelanura Reichenbach, Icones ad synopsin avium, continuatio 

 No. viii, Alcedineae, 1851, p. 21, col. pi. ccccix b, No. 3488 (Ceylon). 



Ceryle rudis leucomelanura, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 

 1916, p. 144 (Chiang Rai) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 590 ("Northern . . . Siam"). 

 -de Schahensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1929, p. 573 (Chiang 

 Mai, Chiang Rai). — Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 

 161 (Chiang Mai) ; 1936, pp. 92, 133 (Chiang Mai, Mae Ping river above the 

 Rapids). 



The smaller pied kingfisher is now known only from the systems 

 of the Mae Ping and the Mae Khong, in both of which it is very 

 common ; it will doubtless be found to occur at one season or another 

 on all our major streams. 



The species is locally migratory in northern Thailand and, since it 

 feeds wholly on aquatic life, its movements are governed, at least in 

 part, by the recurrent periods of rainfall and drought. At Chiang 

 Mai it appeared with the first rains late in May and was common 

 until the end of September. For no obvious reason it was extremely 

 rare or absent during the two following months, for which the only 

 records are: one, October 13, 1936; one, November 25, 1936. From 

 December to the end of March it was more common than at any other 

 time, but during the driest season, April and most of May, it was 

 never seen. 



This kingfisher is sometimes found over the great marshes but is 

 characteristically a bird of the rivers, particularly where they are 

 broad and the water flows smoothly. It flies at some distance above 

 the stream, with bill pointed downward, occasionally uttering a shrill 

 peet-weet, peet-weet, peet-weet, which curiously resembles the call of 

 the common sandpiper. Upon sighting some tiny fish or crustacean, 

 the bird pulls up short and, with wings beating rapidly, hovers like 

 a kestrel, before plunging headlong into the water. 



An adult female had the irides brown; the bill black; the feet, 

 toes, and claws dull black; the soles brownish gray. 



The male has the entire upperparts barred and spotted with black 

 and white ; the underparts white, the lower throat, breast, and flanks 

 heavily spotted with black, the spots on the breast larger and run 

 together to form two conspicuous gorgets. The female differs chiefly 

 in having only one gorget (often broken at the middle). 



