THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 173 



Family STRIGIDAE 



OTUS SPILOCEPHALUS SIAMENSIS Robinson and Boden Kloss 



Thai Yellow-billed Scops Owl 



Otus luciae siamensis Robinson and Boden Kloss, Journ. Federated Malay 

 States Mus., vol. 10, 1922, p. 261 (Khao Nong, Ban Don, Peninsular Thai- 

 land). 



Otus spilocephalus latouchi, Greenway, Bull. Mus. Coinp. Zool., 1940, p. 193 (Doi 

 Aug Ka). 



An imsexed specimen in Stockholm, taken by Eisenhofer at Khun 

 Tan in 1914, is the first example of this rare mountain owl known 

 from the northern districts. It was collected again by the members 

 of the Asiatic Primate Expedition at 4,300 feet on Doi Ang Ka, April 

 8, 1937. 



It is a small, rufous horned owl, with beautiful, black-tipped, sil- 

 very-white drops on the scapulars. It has both the bill and the irides 

 yellow. 



When I examined the Stockholm bird in 1939, I had no compara- 

 tive material at hand, and its true subspecific identity is highly un- 

 certain. The fact is that no one really knows what forms of this 

 owl occur in the Indo-Chinese countries. The putative races, latouchi 

 and siamensis, were both described without reference to spilocephalus 

 or to each other and seem never yet to have been compared in suffi- 

 ciently good series to show whether they are recognizable subspecies. 



Friedmann and Deignan, in the course of preparation of a paper on 

 certain Asiatic members of the genus Otus (Journ. Washington Acad. 

 Sci., vol. 29, 1939, pp. 287-291), succeeded in bringing together four 

 skins of spilocephalus, five of latouchi, and one (paratype) of siamen- 

 sis and were led to believe that latouchi is "only doubtfully distinct" 

 from spilocephalus. 



Even if latouchi be a valid form, it is not likely to occur in the 

 western portions of Thailand and Lowe's record from Um Phang 

 (Ibis, 1933, p. 483) is almost certainly erroneous. I suggest that 

 northern Thai specimens will prove to be intermediate between a large 

 northern race, spilocephalus, and a small southern one, siamensis, and 

 rather nearer the latter. 



OTUS SCOPS DISTANS Friedmann and Deignan 



Indo-Chinese Common Scops Owl 



Otus senegalensis distans Friedmann and Deignan, Journ. Washington Acad. 

 Sci., vol. 29, pp. 287-28S (Sala Mae Tha, Chiang Mai Province, North 

 Thailand). 



The only northern example of this owl, an adult female which is 

 the type specimen, was discovered by my collectors near Sala Mae Tha, 

 February 20, 1936. It was oerched on the ground at midday in a 



