THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 345 



Microscelis leucocephalus leucocephalus, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 



Philadelphia, 1929, p. 539 (Doi Suthep ) .— Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. 



Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 140 (Doi Suthep). 

 Microscelis leucocephalus, Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1936, p. 



109 (Doi Suthep). 



White-headed black bulbuls of whatever race are known in our area 

 only from Doi Suthep, where they have been noted but three times : A 

 flock of ten at 5,500 feet, December 30, 1928 (de Schauensee) ; a flock 

 of six at 5,400 feet, May 10, 1930 (Deignan) ; many, between 2,700 and 

 3,000 feet, February 22, 1936 (Deignan). A single male taken by 

 de Schauensee has been identified by Mayr as an example of the present 

 form; M. m. stresemanni of northwestern Yunnan may, however, be 

 expected to occur in the same flocks as leucothorax. 



To northern Thailand, these birds are merely rare winter visitors 

 which, like the resident black bulbul, appear erratically at a given 

 locality. In habits they differ not at all from concolor, with which 

 they are often associated while feeding; it is interesting then to find 

 leucothorax and stresemanni much more timid than their black-headed 

 relative and apparently not mingling with it in flight. 



De Schauensee's specimen had the irides brown; the eyelids edged 

 orange; the bill deep orange, tinged reddish at the base; the interior 

 of the mouth orange ; the feet and toes orange ; the claws horn. 



This race is polymorphic and not every specimen can be certainly 

 identified to subspecies. The adult male, in its typical form, has the 

 entire head, neck, and breast pure white ; the rest of the plumage, above 

 and below, black, glossed (especially on the mantle) with steel blue. 

 The adult female differs in having the upperparts slaty gray, more or 

 less strongly suffused with black, and the underparts (below the 

 breast) deep ashy gray. 



M. m. stresemanni, another polymorphic race, is not separable from 

 leucothorax in life. The male in typical plumage closely resembles 

 the female leucothorax as described above ; the female is distinguish- 

 able from that of leucothorax only by its greater size. 



MICROSCELIS THOMPSONI (Bingham) 



White-headed Ashy Bulbul 

 Frontispiece: Plate 1 



Cerasophila Thompsoni Bingham, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 5, 1900, pp. 



358-359 (Loi San Pa, Mong Kong State, Southern Shan States). 

 Cerasophila thompsoni, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1929, 



p. 539 (Doi Suthep) ; 1934, p. 202 (Doi Chiang Dao).— Deignan, Journ. Siam 



Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 140 (Doi Suthep).— Riley, Journ. Siam Soc. 



Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1933, p. 156 (Doi Langka ) .—Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. 



Hist. Suppl., 1935, p. 65 (Doi Ang Ka) ; 1936, p. 109 (Doi Suthep, Doi Chiang 



Dao).— Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 380 (Doi Langka, Doi Hua 



Mot). 



