THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 313 



I have seen, but not collected, some race of the yellow -cheeked tit 

 on Phu Kha ; it will perhaps prove to be Parus x. basileus. 



MELANOCHLORA SULTANEA SULTANEA (Hodgson) 



Indian Sultan Tit 



[Paiils] Sultanevs Hodgson, India Rev., vol. 2, 1838 [= 1837], pp. 31-32 (no 

 locality given = Nepal). 



Melanchlora sultana flavocristata, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 

 1915, p. 166 (listed). 



Melanochlora sultanea 2= flavocristata, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. 

 Handl., 1916, p. 39 (Pha Kho, Khun Tan, Doi Pha Sakaeng). 



Melanochlora sultanea sultayiea, Gyldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 468 ("Northern 

 Siam). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1929, p. 529 

 (20 km. south of Muang Phayao, Chiang Saen) ; 1934, p. 181 (ridge south of 

 Doi Chiang Dao). — Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1936, p. 

 104 (Doi Suthep).— Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 312 (Khun 

 Tan, Doi Pata, Mae Lang valley, "Doi Phra Chao" [= Doi Saket ?]). 



The sultan tit is a rather common permanent resident of the low- 

 land evergreen throughout the provinces east of (and including) the 

 Khun Tan range ; west of the Khun Tan hills the species is rare, and 

 it is perhaps no coincidence that in these districts all records have 

 been made between October 17 and February 6. To Doi Suthep it 

 is apparently a mere straggler, known only by a solitary bird at 

 2,850 feet, December 30, 1931, and a second at 2,800 feet, February 

 6, 1932. 



Both Gyldenstolpe and de Schauensee have observed that this 

 species flocks with bulbuls, and I have myself seen it many times 

 with such forms as Ghloropsis and Pycnonotus but am inclined to 

 believe that this is the fortuitous result of a common liking for fruits. 

 On other occasions I have watched it searching the leaves, branches, 

 and trunks of trees, acting much as do the small tits of the genus 

 Parus, but whether Melanochlora is properly placed with the Paridae 

 is a moot question. 



An example from Muang Ngop, April 23, had the gonads enlarged. 

 Specimens in postjuvenal molt were taken between August 6 and 

 October 18; others in postnuptial molt, between August 6 and 

 December 31. 



Adults had the irides brown; the bill black, with the maxilla 

 tipped horny ; the feet and toes slaty blue ; the claws brownish slate. 



The old male has the forehead, crown, and lanceolate crest feathers 

 bright yellow ; the remaining upperparts, the rest of the head, and the 

 breast black, glossed with steel blue; the remaining underparts 

 bright yellow. The adult female is similar but has the black of the 

 male replaced by deep oily olive, this color suffused on the throat 

 and breast with yellow. Immatures resemble the adults but have the 



