164 BULLETIN 18 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In the neighborhood of Chiang Mai the mournful call of this cuckoo 

 is one of the most familiar sounds of the hot weather. Perching 

 quietly for long periods in a roadside tree or upon a telephone wire, 

 the bird utters again and again a clear, whistled song — five or six 

 notes of the same pitch, followed by three or four much shorter notes 

 in descending tones. It may be syllabified as pik-pik-pik-pik-pik-pi- 

 pe-pe-pe. 



The breeding season obviously embraces many months, for nest- 

 lings of the same age were brought to me at Chiang Mai on April 30 

 and August 8, 1935. Unfortunately, I have no information on the 

 identity of the foster parents. 



A male had the irides light brown; the bill brownish black with 

 the basal half of the mandible brown; the rictus and interior of the 

 mouth salmon-pink; the feet and toes yellowish brown; the soles 

 bright yellow ; the claws black. Immature birds of either sex had the 

 irides gray; the bill horny flesh; the rictus yellow; the interior of 

 the mouth orange ; the feet and toes bright yellow ; the claws horny 

 brown. 



The adult has the upperparts gray, more ashy on the head, more 

 brownish on the scapulars and wings; the tail feathers blackish, 

 tipped with white and barred with white near the edge of the inner 

 web ; the throat and upper breast ashy gray ; the remaining underparts 

 ferruginous. The immature has the upperparts light rufous, streaked 

 on head and nape and barred elsewhere with blackish ; the throat and 

 upper breast light rufous, streaked with blackish, changing below 

 to brownish white with indistinct, wavy blackish brown bars. 



The immature might be confused with the banded cuckoo. The 

 former is decidedly smaller, has the upperparts of a much paler rufous, 

 is less clearly barred below, and has the entire undersurface of the tail 

 distinctly and regularly barred. 



CHALCITES MACULATUS (Gmelin) 



Emerald Cuckoo 



[Trogon] maculatus Gmelin, Systema naturae, vol. 1, pt. 1, 17S8, p. 404 (Cey- 

 lon ; vide Whistler and Kinnear, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 37, 1934, 

 pp. 521-522). 



Chalcites maculatus maculatus, de Schauensee, Proe. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadel- 

 phia, 1929, p. 570 (Doi Suthep) ; 1934, p. 257 (Doi Chiang Dao).— Deignan, 

 Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 159 (Doi Suthep) ; 1936, p. 88 

 (Doi Suthep). 



Clialcites maculatus, Chasen and Boden Kloss, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. 

 Suppl., 1932, p. 234 (Doi Suthep). 



The emerald cuckoo is apparently rare but is so small and conceals 

 itself so well at the very tops of high trees that it may easily be com- 

 moner than it seems to be. On Doi Suthep, where it has been found 



