420 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



bright rufous ; the tail as in the male but with the black replaced by 

 olivaceous-brown; the same concealed white patches at the sides of 

 the lower throat and on the lower flanks as in the male; the throat 

 and breast olivaceous-brown (the throat usually paler) , more or less 

 strongly suffused with rufous; the remaining underparts olivaceous- 

 brown, changing to ashy on the center of the abdomen and albescent 

 on the under tail coverts. The juvenile has the feathers of the crown 

 and mantle dark rufous-brown with light rufous shaft streaks; the 

 remiges and rectrices exactly as in the adult of corresponding sex; 

 the underparts light rufous, changing to buff on the center of the 

 abdomen, all the feathers with blackish edgings ; the under tail coverts 

 ashy, suffused with buff. 



COPSYCHUS SAULARIS ERIMELAS Oberholser 



Indo-Chinese Magpie Robin 



Copsychus saularis erimclas Oberholseb, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 76, No. 6, 

 1923, pp. 1-2 ("Kankarit, Houndraw Branch, Tenasserim" ; type specimen 

 from "Kaukarit, Houndraw R r " [=Kaukareyit, Haungdaraw river, Am- 

 herst District]). 



Copsychus saularis, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1913, p. 39 

 (Ban Huai Horn) ; Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 170 (listed). 



Copsychus saularis saularis, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet-Akad. Handl. 

 1916, p. 50 (Khun Tan, Ban Mae Na) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 477 (North- 

 ern . . . Siam"). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1928, 

 p. 564 (Chiang Mai) ; 1929, p. 543 (Chiang Mai) ; 1934, p. 210 (Chiang Mai).— 

 Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 142 (Chiang Mai) ; 

 1936, p. 112 (Chiang Mai).— Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 406 

 (Ban Nam Khian). 



The magpie robin may sometimes be seen along trails in wild bam- 

 boo jungle, but its true home is in the immediate vicinity of human 

 dwellings, whether in large towns or diminutive settlements. Through- 

 out our provinces it is really a lowland form, but I found it common 

 also on Doi Ang Ka, between 4,200 and 4,400 feet, near the Karen 

 village of Ban Nong Lorn, and a few pairs still dwelt in the abandoned 

 Yao clearing on Phu Kha at 4,500 feet. 



This is the charming black and white (or gray and white) bird 

 that hunts for earthworms and insects on lawns and garden plots, 

 constantly elevating the tail perpendicularly to the line of the back 

 or spreading it broadly like a fan. It is an indefatigable singer 

 almost throughout the year but chiefly from January to July, and its 

 sweet strains may be heard in a veritable chorus at dawn and again 

 at dusk from the tops of trees, the ridgepoles of houses, the posts of 

 fences, or wherever else it finds an exposed perch. Its numbers, famil- 

 iarity with man, and preference for a diet of insects make it, econom- 

 ically, one of our most valuable species. 



