THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 141 



SPHENURUS APICAUDA LAOTIANUS Delacour 



Lao Pin-tailed Green Pigeon 



Sphenurus apicauda laotianus Delacour, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 47, 1926, pp. 

 10-11 (Chiang Khwang, Haut-Laos). 



The Lao pin-tailed pigeon is known in Thailand only from Phu Klia 

 in northeastern Nan Province, where I found it uncommon in dense 

 evergreen from 4,500 feet to the summit. 



While encamped on Phu Kha I seldom saw this pigeon but fre- 

 quently heard its mellow, whistled notes as the flocks bedded down at 

 nightfall. In the gathering darkness and amid the foliage of high 

 trees the birds were extremely difficult to collect. A female shot on 

 April 6, 1936, was lost in the undergrowth and, when found the next 

 morning, was too much damaged by ants for preservation of the skin. 

 Finally, on April 16, a single adult male was taken. 



The bird of April 6 had the gonads enlarged and that of the 16th 

 had them greatly enlarged. By the middle of the month the flocks had 

 broken up into pairs and nest-building had doubtless begun. 



The present race seems to differ from the preceding only in its 

 rather paler coloration. 



SPHENURUS SEIMUNDI SEIMUNDI (Robinson) 



Malayan Pin-tailed Green Pigeon 



Sphenocercus seimundi Robinson, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 25, 1910, pp. 98-99 

 (Semangko Pass, Selangor-Pabang border, Malaya). 



The sole northern record for this rare fruit pigeon is based upon a 

 male in my collection, taken at Doi San Huai Wai, a locality in the 

 hills separating southern Phrae and Nan Provinces, June 4, 1936. 



The tail of my specimen is in molt: one of the central pair of 

 feathers has not yet emerged at all from its sheath, the other has not 

 quite appeared from beneath the coverts. 



The male of the present species is similar to that of apicauda but 

 has all the green parts darker; the rectrices blackish, broadly tipped 

 with soft gray ; the bend of the wing maroon ; the belly pure white ; 

 the under tail coverts yellow, marked at the base with olive-green. 

 The female lacks the maroon at the bend of the wing and the orange- 

 pink wash on the upper breast. 



I use here a trinomial name but am somewhat doubtful of the valid- 

 ity of modestus (Annam), separated on the absence of a character 

 that may well be connected merely with age of specimen. My bird is 

 just possibly of an undescribed form, but for the present is best called 

 seimundi: it has the uppermost part of the breast suffused with 

 orange-pink, this color most marked at the sides, where it adjoins the 

 gray band that crosses the upper back. 



