THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 147 



A series of 19 northern birds excellently illustrate the annual cycle. 

 A specimen of December 21 is in perfect, unworn plumage. Birds of 

 April 2 and 9 had the gonads enlarged. One of May 4 is most worn 

 of all but has not yet begun to molt. Every example taken between 

 July 10 and October 30 is molting. 



An adult female had the irides with a bluish inner, pink outer ring; 

 the bill bluish white, greenish at the base; the feet and toes bright 

 yellow; the claws bluish white. De Schauensee records that a male 

 had the irides white ; the bill gray, darker at the base ; the claws black. 



The male has the forecrown olive-green, changing to deep gray on 

 the hindcrown and nape ; a brownish-olive band across the upper back, 

 followed by a narrow band of ash gray; the remaining upperparts 

 grayish olive, changing to gray on the rump and upper tail coverts ; 

 the tail golden olive-green, with the terminal third blackish; the wings 

 with the apical half black, the basal half olive-green, a yellow cross 

 bar, and a violet wash on the shoulder; the throat and breast olive- 

 green, the latter deeper in color ; the remaining underparts ashy gray, 

 with the thighs and mesial area of the belly bright yellow; the under 

 tail coverts deep chestnut, tipped and more or less barred with white. 

 The female differs chiefly in having rather less violet on the shoulder. 



T. p. annamensis, which I have been unable to examine, was de- 

 scribed by Ogilvie-Grant as distinct from phoenicoptera, but I cannot 

 learn how it differs, if at all, from virklifrons. Of the latter I have 

 one worn April skin from Tenasserim, which agrees perfectly with 

 a worn April bird from northern Thailand ; both are quite different 

 from my fresh specimens of December and January, which, to judge 

 only from published descriptions, would all be annamensis! In this 

 connection, it is interesting to find (Ibis, 1933, p. 485) that Lowe's birds 

 from Tenasserim and western Thailand, in the virtually unworn dress 

 of December, January, and February, are considered by Kinnear to 

 be nearer annamensis than vividifrons! 



My most worn skins differ from the freshest in having all the colors 

 paler, the band on the upper back golden-olive instead of brownish 

 olive, the mantle overlaid with a brownish tinge, the gray of the rump 

 more olivaceous and less distinct from the upper back ; in short, they 

 appear to belong to a different race. 



These birds also show considerable individual variation in the extent 

 of green on the forecrown,' of gray on the rump, and in the proportions 

 of chestnut and white on the under tail coverts. One breeding female 

 is unique in having the last almost wholly white, the longer with broad 

 central streaks of slate mixed with chestnut, the shorter with broad 

 bars of the same combination of colors. 



Sphenocercus pseudo-crocopus, of which I have examined the type, 

 is, in my opinion, quite certainly an example of the present form. 



