THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 385 



Stachyridopsis rufifrons, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, 



p. 59 (Pha Kho, Doi Pha Sakaeng). 

 Stachyridopsis rufifrons rufifrons, Gtldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 482 ("Northern 



and northwestern Siam"). 



I place with this rare and little-known form of the rufous-crowned 

 babbler three specimens from northern Thailand : A male taken by de 

 Schauensee's men on Doi Pha Horn Pok, 6,400 feet, February 18, 1938 

 (a paratype) and two males collected by Gyldenstolpe at Pha Kho 

 and Doi Pha Sakaeng, respectively, April 13 and July {not April) 23, 

 1914. 



Gyldenstolpe has stated (1916) that "these birds kept to the under- 

 growth among the valleys which were mostly clothed with dense ever- 

 green forests. I never saw them skulking about among the lower 

 trees or bushes as Mixornis gularis minor''' i—M. g. sulphured] . 



The example from Doi Pha Horn Pok had the irides chestnut ; the 

 bill gray; the feet and toes yellowish gray. That from Plia Kho had 

 the irides reddish brown; the bill plumbeous; the feet and toes light 

 brown. The one from Doi Pha Sakaeng had the irides brown; the 

 bill horn color ; the feet and toes dirty yellow. 



I originally described this race as having the "front and crown 

 orange-rufous with conspicuous black shaft-streaks; upper plumage 

 medium olivaceous-brown ; lores yellowish-gray ; ear-coverts oliva- 

 ceous-fulvous ; edge of wing, wing-coverts, and axillaries white washed 

 with buffy; chin and upper throat buffy-white (or buff) with con- 

 spicuous black shaft-streaks and merging into remainder of lower 

 plumage, which is nearest antimony yellow (Ridgway) and slightly 

 more olivaceous on the flanks." 



In December 1931, on the steep, grass-covered slopes of Doi Chiang 

 Dao at some 6,000 feet, I met with a small party of a strange Stachyris, 

 of which I succeeded in collecting one mutilated specimen ; it was iden- 

 tified in the flesh as a form of Stachyris ruftceps, as understood by 

 Stuart Baker (Fauna of British India, Birds, ed. 2, vol. 1, 1922, p. 

 268), and my identification of the fragments was subsequently con- 

 firmed by Chasen at the Raffles Museum. I now have no doubt that 

 this example belonged to the race later named insuspectd, and since 

 de Schauensee took S. rufifrons rodolphei in the grasslands at 5,500 

 feet, I find it impossible to agree with Mayr in his view that the forms 

 of rufifrons and those of ruficeps are conspecific. Inasmuch as insus- 

 pecta seems to have an extensive range in our provinces, it is highly 

 likely to occur with rufifrons or with rodolphei also at other localities. 



It was suggested by Gyldenstolpe (1916, but not 1920) that the two 

 specimens in Stockholm might represent distinct races, but my ex- 

 amination of them in 1939 revealed to me no important differences. 

 In the absence of comparative material and pertinent literature, I 



