THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 139 



The adult male has the head slaty ; a pair of black mustachial bands, 

 sometimes joined to form a narrow nuchal collar; the slate of the head 

 followed by a narrow band of blue-green and this, in turn, by an ill- 

 defined band of 3 7 ellow-green ; the remaining upperparts parrot green; 

 the longest tail feathers bright blue, changing to violet-yellow on the 

 apical third, the remaining rectrices green, tipped bright yellow; a 

 small maroon patch on the shoulder; the entire underparts light yel- 

 low-green ; the under wing coverts and axillaries blue-green. The adult 

 female differs only in lacking the maroon shoulder patch. 



LORICULUS VERNALIS VERNALIS (Sparrman) 



North Indian Lorikeet 



Psittacus vernalis Sparkman, Museum Carlsonianum, fasc. 2, 17S7, No. 29 and pi. 

 (no locality given ; Cachar designated as type locality by Stuart Baker, Journ. 

 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. 28, No. 2, 1922, p. 333). 



Loriculus vernalis, Gyxdenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1913, p. 

 60 (Mae Raem, Den Chai) ; 1916, p. 119 (Pha Kho, Doi Pha Sakaeng, Khun 

 Tan) ; Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 233 (listed) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 591 

 ("Throughout Siam proper"). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila- 

 delphia, 192S, p. 573 (Doi Suthep). 



Loriculus vernalis vernalis, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 

 1929, p. 571 (Chiang Saen, "Pa Tai— 67 Kims. N. of Lampang" ) .—Riley, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 122 (Ban Nam Khian). 



Coryllis vernalis vernalis, Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, 

 p. 161 (Doi Suthep) ; 1936, p. 87 (Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai).— de Schauen- 

 see, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1934, p. 260 (Doi Chiang Dao). 



The diminutive lorikeet occurs fairly commonly throughout our 

 provinces, but since it is a bird of the wilder districts it is by no means 

 conspicuous. It may be found in the more open evergreen, in the 

 pines, in the dry deciduous jungle, and in bamboo, both on the plains 

 and on the hills to at least 4,300 feet. In addition to the localities 

 listed above, it is known from Ban Mae Wan, Doi Ang Ka, and Ban 

 Mae Klang, whence I have specimens. 



This is usually a difficult bird to observe, for the flocks are small 

 and, in a leafy tree, by virtue of its color, it is almost invisible; I 

 rarely became aware of its presence until it flew off with a character- 

 istic twittering note. It is one of the many species that congregate in 

 flowering trees and on Doi Suthep seemed always to be commoner 

 when Bombax was in bloom. 



An adult male had the irides white; the orbital skin light brown; 

 the gular skin brownish yellow; the bill and cere orange, the maxilla 

 more red-orange; the feet and toes brownish yellow; the claws light 

 horn-brown. 



This is by far our smallest parrot and our only one with a short 

 tail. It has the upperparts parrot green, with the rump and upper 



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