THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 523 



The nok iang kham or "golden starling" is usually seen in small 

 bands not exceeding a dozen individuals but may appear in great 

 numbers, together with other frugivorous species, where figs or sim- 

 ilarly fleshy fruits are ripening. It is a noisy bird, with an enor- 

 mous variety of notes which range from low, hoarse clucks and 

 chuckles to loud, ringing whistles; its talent for mimicry and its 

 ability to pronounce words and phrases with a distinctly human qual- 

 ity in the voice make it a favorite cagebird of the Lao. 



Postjuvenal molt is shown by a specimen taken August 5; post- 

 nuptial molt appears in a series collected between August 27 and 

 September 7. 



Adults have the irides dark brown; the bill deep orange, tipped 

 bright yellow ; the wattles and the bare skin on the sides of the head 

 bright yellow ; the feet and toes bright yellow ; the claws horny brown. 



This unmistakable form has a broad white band across the central 

 portion of the primaries ; the rest of the plumage black, highly glossed 

 with purple (crown, mantle, and breast), blue-green (rump and upper 

 tail coverts), and deep blue (remaining parts) ; a bright yellow fleshy 

 lappet at each side of the nape, connected with an extensive area of 

 bright yellow bare skin on either side of the head below and behind 

 the eye. Young birds are less glossy and have the lappets 

 undeveloped. 



MINO CORONATUS (Blyth) 

 GOLDEN-CRESTED MYNA 



A[tnpeliceps] coronatus Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 11, 1842, p. 194 



(Tenasserim). 

 Ampeliceps coronatus, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1913. 



p. 35 (Ban Huai Horn) ; 1916, p. 24 (Pha Kho) ; Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. 



Siam, 1915, p. 168 (listed); Ibis, 1920, p. 454 ("Northern Siam"). 



This interesting starling seems to be common and widely dis- 

 tributed in the provinces east and north of (and including) the Khun 

 Tan range. Eisenhofer sent to Hannover five examples from "Siam," 

 one from Ban Huai Horn, and two from Huai Pu; to Stockholm, 

 12 from Khun Tan and three from Pha Hing. I myself have found 

 it in Nan Province at Ban Hai Huai Som and in Chiang Kai on the 

 savannas of the Nam Ing, as well as in the neighborhood of Wiang 

 Pa Pao. 



In Lampang, Phrae, and Nan it is a bird of the treetops in dense 

 lowland evergreen, but on the Nam Ing savannas I discovered it in 

 the rather stunted trees that form a parklike jungle on the islands 

 of slightly higher land rising from the great marshes. 



A pair observed near Wiang Pa Pao, April 6, were evidently about 

 to nest in a hole about 40 feet above ground in one of several 

 gigantic trees left standing at an abandoned hai. Specimens taken 



583136—45 34 



