256 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



between 4,500 and 5,300 feet ; on Doi Suthep it was rare from 3,300 to 

 4,600 feet ; on Phu Kha, a single pair was found at 4,300 feet. On the 

 other hand, it has been taken at feeble altitudes by Fejos (lower 

 slopes of Doi Chiang Dao), by Eisenhofer (Pha Hing), and by my 

 collectors (Bang Pang An), and I have observed it on Doi Mon 

 Khwam Long at about 2,500 feet in mixed-deciduous forest and bam- 

 boo (although not far from heavy evergreen). 



In deep ravines where, shaded by ginger-lilies and tree ferns and 

 overarched by liana-bound trees, some tiny brook falls down the 

 mountainside among tumbled rocks, this beautiful species travels 

 about in small parties, the members of which explore the branches and 

 climb the creepers in parrotlike fashion, all the while keeping up a 

 conversation of shrill whistles and chattering notes. Specimens 

 whose stomachs I examined had fed only upon insects. 



In April and May, when the flocks break up into pairs for breed- 

 ing, it becomes a much shier bird. On Doi Ang Ka, April 7, 1931, 

 in a tract of comparatively open evergreen, I observed a couple be- 

 ginning to add the pendent tail to an otherwise completed nest; this 

 nest, a remarkably bulky pyrif orm structure of closely woven vegeta- 

 ble material, with the entrance hole on the side near the base, was 

 suspended by a length of vine from the end of a branch, about 10 

 feet from the ground and almost overhanging a small brook. 



On Doi Khun Tan, Smith took four examples in various stages 

 of the post juvenal molt between August 24 and October 25 and two 

 adults in the postnuptial molt, August 26 and September 2. 



An adult male (April 29) had the irides with a violet-pink inner 

 ring, smalt-blue outer ring; the eyelids with the inner surface blue, 

 edged greenish yellow, the outer surface of the upper yellowish green, 

 of the lower greenish yellow; the maxilla green, tipped light blue, 

 with a patch on each side near the base dark blue, the corners of the 

 mouth greenish blue, the edges of the commissure violet-gray; the 

 mandible with two orange patches separated by a narrow greenish- 

 yellow strip and otherwise edged by green, the tip and corners of the 

 mouth light blue; the interior of the mouth light blue; the tarsi 

 yellowish olive ; the toes dull olive ; the claws horny violet. An adult 

 female (April 10) had the irides with a pink inner ring, pinkish- 

 gray outer ring ; the upper eyelid with the inner surface bright blue, 

 edged grass green, the outer surface olive-green; the lower eyelid 

 with the inner surface fleshy, edged blue, the outer surface yellow; 

 the maxilla yellowish green, with the tip, anterior half of the culmen, 

 and a patch on each side at the base sky blue, the edges of the commis- 

 sure violet-gray ; the mandible with two pinkish-orange patches sep- 

 arated by greenish yellow and otherwise surrounded by bright green, 

 the tip and corners of the mouth sky blue ; the interior of the mouth 



