THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 381 



coverts with buffy shaft streaks ; the underparts buff, albescent on the 

 throat and the center of the abdomen. 



STACHYRIS STRIOLATA HELENAS Delacour and Greenway 



Lao Spotted-necked Babbler 



Stachyris striolata helenae Delacoue and Greenway, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 

 vol. 59, 1939, pp. 130-131 (Ban Nam Khuang, 20 km. west of Ban Huai 

 Sai, on the left bank of the Mae Khong, Haut-Laos). 



The Lao spotted-necked babbler is known from Thailand only by a 

 pair I collected on Phu Kha, about 4,500 feet, April 9, 1936. 



They were taken at the edge of a trail in the narrow belt between an 

 overgrown hai and a stand of undisturbed evergreen — where scrubby 

 bamboo and tangled vines concealed scattered rocks and long-felled 

 trees. I found them not at all shy but almost impossible to see in the 

 heavy cover. 



Although the birds were obviously paired, I found their gonads to 

 be quite inactive. 



My specimens had the irides red-brown; the maxilla black, with 

 the edges of the commissure plumbeous ; the mandible plumbeous ; the 

 tarsi horn ; the toes horny yellow ; the claws horn. 



This species has the crown and nape dull chestnut-brown (streaked 

 with black on the forehead) ; the remaining upperparts dark oliva- 

 ceous-brown, more rufous on the wings and tail ; the supercilium black, 

 the feathers with broad white centers, joining, on the sides of the neck, 

 a postauricular patch, which anteriorly has the feathers black with 

 broad white centers, and posteriorly has them dull chestnut-brown 

 but with similar centers ; a white area below the eye, bordered behind 

 by the slaty ear coverts, below, by a black mustachial streak ; the throat 

 pure white; the remaining underparts orange-rufous, brightest on 

 the breast and washed with brown along the flanks. 



STACHYRIS NIGRICEPS YUNNANENSIS La Touche 

 YUNNANESE GRAY-THROATED BABBLER 



Stachyris nigriceps yunnanensis La Touche, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 42, 1921, 



p. 18 (Hokow, southeastern Yunnan). 

 Stachyris nigriceps, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Hand!., 1913, p. 



21 (Ban Huai Horn). 

 Stachyris nigriceps davisoni, Gyxdenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 484 ("Northern 



Siam"). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1934, p. 191 



(Doi Suthep). — Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1936, p. 106 



(Doi Suthep). 

 Stachyris nigriceps coltarti, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 



1929, p. 532 (Doi Suthep).— Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 



1931, p. 137 (Doi Suthep). — Chasen and Boden Kloss, Journ. Siam Soc. 



Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1932, p. 244 (Doi Suthep).— Riley, TJ. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 



172, 1938, p. 344 (Doi Langka) . 



