320 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The breeding male had the irides brown; the maxilla black; the 

 mandible flesh; the feet and toes light fleshy brown; the claws pale 

 horny brown. 



The adult has the upperparts brown, heavily streaked with black 

 and fulvous, changing on the rump and upper tail coverts to fer- 

 ruginous and on the tail to a duller red-brown ; the remiges with con- 

 spicuous black and fulvous markings; the underparts gray-brown, 

 grayer on the abdomen; the under tail coverts rufous-buff. The 

 juvenile is similar but has the feathers of the underparts (except those 

 of the center of the lower abdomen) narrowly tipped with blackish 

 to give an indistinctly scaled appearance. 



Family PYCNONOTIDAE 



IRENA PUELLA SIKKIMENSIS Whistler and Kinnear 



Himalayan Fairy-bluebird 



Irena puella sikkimensis Whistles and Kinneae, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, 

 vol. 36, No. 3, 1933, p. 582 (Sukna, Darjiling, India). 



Irena puella, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1913, p. 23 (Ban 

 Huai Horn) ; 1916, p. 65 (Doi Pha Sakaeng, Khun Tan, Pha Kho) ; Journ. 

 Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 166 (listed). 



Irena puella puella [partim], Gyldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 496 ("Throughout the 

 whole country" [partim]). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila- 

 delphia, 1934, p. 232 (Khun Tan, Doi Suthep, Doi Chiang Dao). — Riley, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 300 (Doi Langka, Khun Tan). 



Irena puella puella, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1928, 

 p. 569 (Doi Suthep) ; 1929, p. 556 (Doi Suthep, Chiang Saen ) .— Deignan, 

 Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 150 (Doi Suthep).— Chasen and 

 Boden Kloss, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1932, p. 242 (Doi Suthep).— 

 Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1936, p. 102 (Doi Suthep). 



This lovely bird is found in the evergreen of all our provinces at 

 comparatively low elevations: it occurs only rarely about 3,500 feet 

 and has not yet been recorded anywhere above 4,600 feet. 



The fairy-bluebird ordinarily travels quietly about the forest in 

 pairs but, where some tree, high or low, is laden with ripe fruit, scores 

 may be found together with the hornbills, orioles, smaller bulbuls, 

 and other frugivores that congregate at the place, taking a leading 

 part in the clamor and beating of wings inseparable from such a 

 gathering. While not a migratory species in the strict sense, it almost 

 certainly performs local wanderings in search of fruits, and its num- 

 bers at a given locality and elevation seem to be closely correlated 

 with the seasonal abundance of this type of food. 



It is said to breed in Burma during the spring months, and this is 

 probably the case also in Thailand, since a long series of adults (all 

 from the Khun Tan range and Nan Province), taken between May 12 

 and September 3, are in complete molt ; it is worthy of record, however, 



