136 BULLETIN 18 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



by Stuart Baker, Fauna of British India, Birds, ed. 2, vol. 4, 1927, p. 210, 



error ; type locality corrected to Arakan, by Ticehurst, Journ. Bombay Nat. 



Hist. Soe, vol. 36, 1933, p. 934). 

 Palaeornis fasciata, Gyldenstople, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1913, p. 60 



(Den Chai) ; 1916, p. 119 (Khun Tan, Pha Kho) ; Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. 



Siam, 1915, p. 233 (listed) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 591 ("Northern part of the country"). 

 Palaeornis alexandri fasciata, de Schatjensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 



1929, p. 571 (Chiang Rai). 

 Psittacula alexandri fasciata, Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, 



p. 160 (Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep) ; 1936, p. 87 (Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep).— 



de Sohauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1934, p. 259 (Chiang Mai, 



Chiang Rai).— RrLET, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 120 (Doi Aug Ka, 



Sop Phung, Ban Nam Khian, Mae Khan). 



This parrot is by far the most abundant of its family throughout 

 the northern provinces, occurring irregularly in every town and village, 

 in any type of vegetation, and, while chiefly a bird of the lowlands, 

 ascending the mountains to at least 4,600 feet. 



At Chiang Mai the raucous scream of the pink-breasted parrot may 

 be heard overhead at any time of the year, but the species appears in 

 greatest numbers when the mango is in fruit, at which season a flock 

 composed of hundreds may descend upon a single tree. In other parts 

 of our area even larger flocks settle in the ricefields just before harvest : 

 De Schauensee mentions "flocks of well over a thousand birds," and I 

 myself, at the end of December 1936, on a small rice plain to the south 

 of Muang Fang, saw a flock that could not have had less than 10,000 

 individuals. Such swarms of birds must cause serious economic loss 

 to the cultivator. 



The breeding season covers a number of months. A male from Ban 

 Muang Sum, December 24, had the gonads enlarged. In the dry forest 

 just west of Ban Na Noi (Nan Province), April 1, I met a man who 

 was engaged in removing young birds from the nest holes for a life 

 of captivity. 



There seems to be considerable color variation in this species at any 

 age, which, combined with individual variation in the annual cycle, 

 makes it difficult to interpret the sequence of plumages. Eleven speci- 

 mens that are certainly juveniles were taken at various northern local- 

 ities between February 1 and July 26. A male from Ban Nam Khian, 

 April 22, is passing from the juvenal stage to what Ticehurst (Ibis, 

 1939, p. 20) calls "the young male in first winter," and a bird in rather 

 worn "first winter" dress was taken at Ban Sop Mae Chaem, January 

 11. The female at this stage seems not to differ appreciably from the 

 male, except perhaps in color of bill, and the specimens I have seen 

 which correspond to Ticehurst's "female in first winter" are all worn 

 birds. I am convinced that yet another stage, in which the rectrices 

 are fully elongated, intervenes between the "first winter" and the adult 

 plumages, but my material is insufficient to do more than indicate the 



