THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 177 



barred with deep brown on throat and breast, boldly spotted else- 

 where. The immature is said to have the entire plumage pale buff, 

 paler on the head, barred everywhere with dark brown. 



KETUPA ZEYLONENSIS ORIENTALIS Dclacour 



Indo-Chinese Brown Fish Owl 



Ketupa ceylonensis orientalis Delacoub, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 47, 1926, p. 11 

 (Dakto, Annam). 



Ketupa zeylonensis, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 233 

 (listed). 



Ketupa zeylonensis zeylonensis, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 

 1916, p. 120 (Khuu Tan) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 751 (Khun Tan). 



Ketupa zeylonensis leschenaulti, de Schatjensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila- 

 delphia, 1934, p. 268 (Muang Phrao). — Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. 

 Suppl., 1936, p. 89 (Chiang Mai, San Kamphaeng). 



The fish owl is rather generally distributed in the lowland forests 

 of our provinces. In addition to the localities listed above, I have 

 specimens from Muang Chiang Dao, Ban Pak Li, Ban Na Ko, and 

 Ban Huai Ki. 



This is the only large owl I have ever started in daylight in northern 

 Thailand. It roosts at the top of some high tree, whether in the ever- 

 green or in the taller deciduous jungle, but usually near a stream, 

 and is extremely difficult either to observe or to collect. 



It is frequently kept as a cage bird. One that was in my possession 

 for several months thrived on live fish but never became at all tame, 

 snapping its bill fiercely whenever I came to feed it. 



A juvenile, taken at Ban Huai Ki, July 23, 1936, differs from the 

 adult chiefly in having the upper wing coverts and the scapulars 

 fulvous, each feather with a narrow blackish-brown streak the whole 

 length of the shaft. 



Two adult females had the irides bright golden-yellow ; the eyelids 

 edged dull olive outside, slate within ; the cere olive-green ; the maxilla 

 with the apical half slate, the base and culmen greenish gray; the 

 mandible greenish yellow or creamy yellow (the basal half slate in 

 one specimen) ; the feet and toes dull brownish yellow ; the claws gray 

 at the base, otherwise slate. 



This large, horned species has the upperparts generally fulvous- 

 brown, paler on the head, each feather with a broad blackish-brown 

 central streak and most feathers mottled with fulvous or fulvous- white ; 

 the tail barred with fulvous and deep brown, as are also the wing 

 quills; the throat pure white; the remaining underparts light buffy 

 brown, the feathers with narrow, indistinct, wavy cross bars of a deeper 

 brown and with narrow blackish-brown shaft streaks. 



If orientalis is really distinct from leschenault (which I have not 

 seen) , Delacour's name must be used for our birds, which agree closely 

 with specimens from Hongkong, Laos, and Cochin-China. 



