THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 539 



Arachnechthra asiatica, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1913, 

 p. 43 (Den Chai) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 462 ("Throughout the country"). 



Leptocoyna asiatica intermedia, de Schatjensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadel- 

 phia, 1929, p. 563 (Chiang Mai, Chiang Saen) ; 1934, p. 241 (Chiang Mai).— 

 Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 155 (Chiang Mai) ; 

 1936, p. 124 (Chiang Mai). 



The purple sunbird is a very common permanent resident of the 

 North, recorded from all the provinces except Nan (where it is almost 

 certain to occur). Although the species was inadvertently omitted 

 from his list by Riley (1938), Dr. Smith's collection included speci- 

 mens from Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang, and Phrae. I have never 

 noted it at an elevation in excess of 1,500 feet (Doi Ang Ka). 



This is a familiar and widely distributed bird, abounding equally 

 in orchards and gardens, coconut groves, and the dry, deciduous 

 forest. The call note is sweet, sweet; the song, rendered with the 

 gold and orange pectoral tufts exposed, a hoarse swee-e, swee-e, swee-e. 



The extreme dates for males in full nuptial dress are (at Chiang 

 Mai) December 12 and June 10. Examples in various stages of 

 prenuptial molt may be observed throughout December and the first 

 half of January; similar examples in postnuptial molt, from the 

 middle of May to the end of June. The adjective "purple" is highly 

 misleading when applied to old males in nonbreeding (eclipse) plum- 

 age, when they are inseparable from the dull-colored juveniles of the 

 same sex. 



The present form has the irides dark brown; the bill, feet, and 

 toes black; the claws black or dark brown. 



The full-plumaged male, in the field, may appear to be wholly black. 

 In fact, he has the forehead, crown, sides of the head and neck, the 

 mantle, scapulars, lesser wing coverts, rump, and upper tail coverts 

 metallic blue, more or less glossed with violet (or with green toward 

 the end of the season) ; the rectrices black, overlaid with deep blue 

 (often narrowly tipped beneath with ashy) ; the feathers of the wings 

 blackish, narrowly edged with grayish brown ; the throat and breast 

 metallic blue (the chin and center of the throat more bronzy purple) ; 

 a narrow band of chestnut-maroon separating the breast from the 

 abdomen (sometimes wholly or partly lacking) ; at either side of 

 the upper abdomen a tuft of elongated feathers, the shorter orange, 

 the longer golden-yellow (usually concealed beneath the wing) ; the 

 remaining underparts black, overlaid with deep blue. In eclipse 

 plumage, he has the wings and tail as described above, but the remain- 

 ing upperparts dull olive-green ; the underparts wholly yellow, except 

 for a broad purple-glossed black stripe down the center of the throat 

 to the upper breast. The female differs from the postnuptial male 

 chiefly in having the throat all yellow, without a gular stripe. 



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