226 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 CYANOPS ASIATICA DAVISONI (Hume) 



Tenasserimese Blue-throated Barbet 



Megalaima Davisom Hume, Stray Feathers, vol. 5, 1877, pp. 108-109 ( "Tenasserirn 



Central Hills . . . at Meetan and other lower localities"). 

 Cyanops davisoni, Gtldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 230 (listed) ; 



Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, p. 98 (Khun Tan, Doi Pha Sakaeng, 



Nong Bia). 

 Cyanops asiatica, Gtldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, p. 98 



(Doi Pha Sakaeng, "Doi Vieng Par" [= Doi Chom Hot?], Khun Tan). 

 Cyanops asiatica asiatica, Gtldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 597 (Khun Tan, Doi Pha 



Sakaeng, "Doi Vieng Par" [=Doi Chom Hot?]). — Greenwat, Bull. Mus. 



Comp. Zool., 1940, p. 192 (Chiang Dao, Doi Nang Kaeo, Doi Ang Ka). 

 Cyanops asiatica davisoni, Gtldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 597 ("North-western 



Siam"). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1929, p. 569 



(Chiang Rai, Chiang Saen) ; 1934, p. 255 (Khun Tan, Doi Chiang Dao).— 



Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 158 (Doi Suthep) ; 



1936, p. 95 (Doi Suthep).— Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 204 



(Khun Tan, Doi Hua Mot). 



The blue-throated barbet is found in the evergreen of all the northern 

 provinces from the plains to about 4,000 feet, less commonly to 4,600 

 feet, above which elevation it is replaced by the preceding species. In 

 the vicinity of Chiang Mai, where lowland evergreen is absent, the 

 bird is restricted to Doi Suthep between 2,700 and 4,600 feet; on 

 Doi Ang Ka, where the evergreen below 4,600 feet has been largely 

 destroyed by the hill tribes, it is rare and local. 



While descending the northern mountains amidst the ubiquitous 

 chorus of barbet music, one can scarcely be certain at what moment 

 he is hearing the last individual of the golden-throated species, the 

 first of the blue-throated. The songs of the two are to my ear not 

 definitely distinguishable, but that of the former seems to have four 

 notes, that of the latter only three — tookarook, tookarook, tooharooh. 



Reproduction takes place during the spring months. A male with 

 greatly enlarged gonads was taken March 7 on Doi Suthep at 3,300 

 feet ; at about 4,500 feet on Phu Kha, during the first half of April, a 

 pair had young in a hole, some 20 feet above ground, in the side of a 

 broken-off tree. Juveniles have been secured in August at several 

 localities. All adults collected between August 19 and October 17 

 are in molt. 



A breeding male had the irides dull orange-brown; the eyelids 

 edged orange ; the orbital skin greenish brown ; the maxilla with the 

 basal half greenish cream, the apical half black ; the mandible green- 

 ish cream, tipped blackish; the feet and toes slaty green; the claws 

 dull black. 



The birds of our area have a conspicuous red frontal patch, followed 

 by a very narrow bar of golden-bronze, then by a much broader bar 

 of blue or black or (most commonly) a mixture of the two colors; a 



