THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 455 



NILTAVA SUNDARA DENOTATA Bangs and Phillips 

 YUNNANESE ORANGE-BELLIED NlLTAVA 



Niltava sundara denotata Bangs and Phillips, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 58, 



1914, p. 280 (Mengtze, southeastern Yunnan). 

 Cyornis oatesi, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siaru, 1915, p. 169 (listed) ; 



Ibis, 1920, p. 577 (Khun Tan). 

 Niltava sundara denotata, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 



1929, p. 546 (Doi Suthep) ; 1934, p. 218 ("N. Siani").— Deignan, Journ. Siam. 



Soe. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 145 (Doi Suthep). — Chasen and Boden Kloss, 



Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1932, p. 239 (Doi Suthep).— Deignan, 



Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1936, p. 120 (Doi Suthep).— Riley, U. S. 



Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 455 (Doi Suthep). 



This species is a not uncommon winter visitor to the higher peaks 

 of the Thanon Thong Chai and Khun Tan chains between October 31 

 (Doi Suthep) and April 14 (Doi Ang Ka). On Doi Suthep it is 

 most frequent from 4,500 feet to the summit, occasionally seen as low 

 as 3,500 feet, casual at 2,500 feet ; where the evergreen extends down 

 to the foothills, as at the base of Doi Pha Horn Pok, it has been taken 

 almost at the level of the plains. 



The orange-bellied niltava is restricted in range to the humid ever- 

 green and occurs not only at clearings and along the trails but also in 

 the deepest parts of the forest, haunting the lower branches, brushy 

 thickets, and the tangles of fallen trees. 



A male had the irides dark brown; the bill black; the feet and 

 toes dark horny brown; the claws blackish brown. 



The adult male has the forehead, lores, and eye ring black; the 

 crown and nape, a transverse mark at each side of the neck, the shoul- 

 der patch, rump, and upper tail coverts shining violet-blue ; the mantle 

 deep purple-blue ; the remiges black, edged along the outer web with 

 deep purple-blue ; the central pair of rectrices purple-blue, the remain- 

 ing pairs black with the outer web purple-blue; the chin, throat, and 

 ear coverts black, overlaid with deep purple-blue ; the remaining un- 

 derpays (including the under wing coverts, axillaries, and under tail 

 coverts) bright rufous-orange. The adult female has the crown and 

 nape olivaceous-brown (suffused with buff on the forehead), chang- 

 ing to rufescent-brown on the mantle, to rufous on the upper tail 

 coverts and the outer webs of the remiges, and to chestnut-rufous on 

 the rectrices; the eye ring, chin, and throat deep olivaceous-buff; a 

 shining violet-blue transverse mark at either side of the throat, the 

 two connected by a conspicuous gorget of pure white ; the remaining 

 underparts pale olivaceous-brown, cinerescent on the center of the 

 abdomen and the under tail coverts ; the under wing coverts and axil- 

 laries olivaceous-buff. 



