THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 559 



erts and exposed parts of the rectrices dull olivaceous-yellow; the 

 chin and throat light or dark chocolate-brown (this color sometimes 

 invading the cheeks and ear coverts) ; the remaining underparts buffy 

 white, heavily squamated with chocolate-brown on the breast and with 

 slaty brown or brownish slate on the upper abdomen and along the 

 flanks ; the under tail coverts buffy white, sometimes streaked or barred 

 with slaty brown or brownish slate. The juvenile differs by having 

 the entire upperparts plain brown and the underparts rich buff with 

 no trace of squamation. 



LONCHURA FERRUGINOSA ATRICAPILLA (Vieillot) 



Indian Black-headed Munia 



Loxia atricapilla Vieillot, Histoire naturelle des plus beaux oiseaux chanteurs 



de la zone torride, Paris, 1805 [=1807], p. 84, pi. 53 ("Les Grandes-Indes" ; 



type locality restricted to Lower Bengal, by Robinson and Boden Kloss, Journ. 



Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, vol. 5, No. 3, 1924, p. 362). 

 Munia atricapilla, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 170 



(listed). 

 Munia atricapilla rubronigra, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 



1916, p. 27 (Chiang Rai, Chiang Saen) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 456 (Chiang Rai, Chiang 



Saen ) . 



Gyldenstolpe (1916) considered the black-headed munia to be rather 

 rare on the grassy plains near Chiang Rai and Chiange Saen. On May 

 6 and 8, 1936, I found it not uncommon among the scattered bushes 

 growing behind the sand bars of the Mae Kok just opposite the town 

 of Chiang Rai. The sole record for any part of our area outside of 

 Chiang Rai Province is based upon an unsexed example taken by 

 Eisenhofer in 1914 at Khun Tan and now deposited at Stockholm. 



The small bands of this species occurred at the same places but not 

 mixed together with the flocks of the more numerous Lonehura p. 

 topela. Six specimens (five males, one female) collected by me all 

 ha,d the gonads at least slightly enlarged. 



Gyldenstolpe notes (1916) that a male had the irides brown; the bill 

 gray ; the feet and toes plumbeous. 



The adult of either sex has the entire head, neck, and upper breast 

 black; the mantle, back, and wings chestnut-brown; the rump and 

 upper tail coverts shining chestnut-maroon (the latter occasionally 

 suffused with golden at the tip) ; the rectrices brown, with the exposed 

 portions shining chestnut (occasionally suffused with golden) ; the re- 

 maining underparts chestnut-brown, the center of the abdomen more or 

 less strongly suffused with dusky or black to form a broad but indis- 

 tinct mesial stripe; the thighs and under tail coverts dusky chestnut 

 or blackish. 



Eight examples of L. f. atricapilla are easily separable from ten of 

 sinensis (Malay Peninsula) by their generally deeper color above and 



