212 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Doi Suthep I have twice in March observed pairs of birds which were 

 probably of this species but were at too great a distance for satisfac- 

 tory identification ; I saw a pair at Bang Choeng Doi, April 1, 1929, 

 and another at Ban Mae Klang, early in April 1931 ; finally, Fejos 

 sent to Stockholm a pair taken at the foot of Doi Chiang Dao, April 

 16, 1938. It is probable that some of these records should be listed 

 under E. o. abundus, a form not yet definitely known from our area. 



This roller inhabits the hot, dry pa daeng of the lower hills and 

 burnt-over districts where tall, dead trees rise above the usurping 

 scrub. Here the birds (always in pairs) rest quietly high above the 

 ground, occasionally flying out to snatch some passing insect, but then 

 returning to the same perch. During the breeding season, however, 

 they become much more active ; in the month of April may be wit- 

 nessed a beautiful aerial courtship, in the course of which the pair 

 rise high into the sky and swoop and circle about each other, all the 

 while uttering a grunting ugh-ugh-ugh. 



A female with enlarged gonads was taken at Ban Huai Som, March 

 30, and a juvenile at Wiang Pa Pao, July 25. 



Adults collected by Gyldenstolpe had the irides brown; the bill 

 brick red, the maxilla tipped black ; the feet and toes pale coral red. 

 My juvenile specimen had the bill black. 



Against the sky this bird appears black with a red bill and a silvery 

 circular patch in the outspread wing. The adult has the head and 

 nape blackish brown, changing gradually to the dark bluish green of 

 the remaining upperparts; the tail black, more or less suffused, 

 especially beneath, with purplish blue ; the wing with a large area of 

 light blue near the center and the apical third black ; the throat pur- 

 plish blue, the feathers with narrow, shining violet-blue central 

 streaks; the remaining underparts bluish green. The juvenile is 

 similar but has the throat colored like the rest of the underparts and 

 the feathers of the breast narrowly edged paler. 



Family UPUPIDAE 



UPUPA EPOPS SATURATA Lonnberg 



Mongolian Hoopoe 



Upupa epops saturata Lonnberg, Ark. for Zool., vol. 5, No. 9, 1909, pp. 29-30 

 (Kyakhta, Buryat Mongol Republic, U.S.S.R.). 



The northern race of the hoopoe seems to be a very rare winter 

 visitor to Thailand, and the only record for our provinces is based 

 upon a female acquired by me from a small boy at Chiang Mai, Novem- 

 ber 9, 1936. The bird was so badly mutilated that only the head and 

 neck were suitable for preservation, but these are fortunately the 

 parts that show the main subspecific characters. 



