THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 57 



2 km. north of Chom Thong, September 11, 1935 ; in neither case was 

 I able to take the specimen. Since the species is rather common on the 

 plains to the south of our area and, furthermore, is known to make 

 occasional irruptions into territory where it has not been seen before, 

 it is likely to occur at some time anywhere in the northern lowlands, 

 except in heavily forested districts. 



The Chom Thong bird was in a tract from which the jungle had 

 only recently been cleared and where there were still numerous dead 

 trees, upon which it perched. At Phayao I found it among low 

 second-growth trees, at the edge of the taller forest. The latter bird 

 was observed to hover in a curious manner, with the wings pointed 

 almost straight upward and the tail depressed. 



This kite has the irides (in adults) deep red; the bill black; the cere 

 and rictus yellow ; the feet and toes yellow ; the claws black. 



It is a small, graceful hawk with pure- white underparts; the 

 posterior lores and a line over the eye black; the forehead white, 

 shading into the blue-gray of the upperparts ; a large black shoulder 

 patch and the wings blackish toward the tip ; the central tail feathers 

 pale gray, the outer ones white ; the basal half of the underwing pure 

 white, the rest dark gray. The wing is pointed and very long, when 

 folded extending beyond the tip of the tail. 



liecent authors have been inclined to merge the race vocijerus with 

 caeruleus of Africa. The latter is supposed to have a blue-gray wash 

 on the breast, rarely seen in the Asiatic birds, and to be slightly darker 

 above. The presence or absence of the blue-gray wash seems to be 

 a very inconstant character, but I find that the two forms are easily 

 separable by the difference in the tone of gray of the upperparts, a 

 distinction that is especially well marked on the head. 



AVICEDA LEUPHOTES (Dumont) 



Black-crested Baza 



Falco leuphotes Dumont, Diet. Sci. Nat., vol. 16, 1820, p. 217 (Pondicherry). 

 Baza lophotes, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 234 (listed) ; 



Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, p. 130 (Pha Kho, Pang Hua Phong, 



Khun Tan) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 750 ("Throughout the whole country"). 

 Baza euphotes [sic], de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1928, 



p. 576 (DoiSuthep). 

 Aviceda leuphotes, Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1936, p. 75 



(Doi Suthep). 



The baza is well distributed in the provinces of Chiang Mai, 

 Lampang, and Phrae, at least in the hilly districts, and should be 

 watched for in the remaining northern provinces. Gyldenstolpe found 

 it not uncommon at Pha Kho in March and at Khun Tan in June. 

 Eisenhofer sent to Stockholm one bird taken at Huai Pu, May 28, 

 1912; one taken at Khun Tan, June 8, 1913 ; and no less than 18 others, 

 including a juvenile, with no data but Khun Tan. On the lower 



