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Brown-capped Babbler Pellorneum fuscocapillus Scientific name definitions

Nigel Collar and Craig Robson
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2007

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

16 cm; 30 g. Smallish, plain brown babbler with dark brown crown and bright rufous-tan underparts. Nominate race has crown, nape and upper mantle dark brown with pale buff shafts, upperparts warm-tinged mid-brown with vague shaft streaks; upperwing and tail as upperparts, fringes of outer primaries paler and contrasting with darker primary coverts, tail tipped pale salmon-buff; head side and underparts bright rufous-tan, but ear-coverts slightly pinkish and throat pale pinkish-buff, breast side streaked with colour of upperparts; underparts variable, sometimes paler, particularly on mid-belly; iris red to red-brown; bill brown, paler lower mandible; legs pinkish-brown. Sexes similar. Juvenile apparently undescribed; unlikely to be very different from adult. Race babaulti is greyish mid-brown above, crown slightly browner, underparts paler than nominate.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Proposed race scortillum (SW wet-zone lowlands) falls within range of variation of nominate, and is therefore synonymized with it. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Pellorneum fuscocapillus babaulti Scientific name definitions

Distribution

dry zone of N and E Sri Lanka.
SUBSPECIES

Pellorneum fuscocapillus fuscocapillus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

wet zone of SW and C Sri Lanka.

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Dense thickets, brushwood and undergrowth both within and outside evergreen broadleaf forest, also overgrown land near villages, scrub and jungle; foothills to 1675 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Insects, including large beetles (Coleoptera). Found in pairs or in small parties of up to five or so individuals. Spends most time on or near ground, turning over dead leaves in search of insects.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song a monotonously repeated, loud, rich, clear whistle, middle note pitched higher and last note strongly down­slurred, sometimes with first note short and weak, and final note greatly stressed, almost disyllabic, e.g. “tu-weee-deyúúu”; very like that of P. ruficeps but richer, less syncopated, notes less slurred, more evenly stressed, and given in shorter, slightly slower strophes. Alarm a sharp “wit” or rapid “quit-it-it”, scolding note a low “chr chrr chrr”.

Breeding

Feb–Apr and Sept–Dec, mainly Mar–Apr. Nest a loose ball with large lateral entrance, or occasionally a cup, made of dead leaves and moss, lined with dead leaves, and fine leaf and fern stalks, placed on ground among dead leaves, often at foot of large tree or cardamom clump, sometimes under tea bush, in brambles, in decayed tree hollow near ground, or in crevice in bank, up to 1 m above ground. Clutch 2–3 eggs, usually 2, white or whitish (exceptionally tinged buff or greyish-green), profusely speckled or with small blotches of brown, red-brown, purplish-brown or blackish-brown; incubation by both sexes. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Sri Lanka EBA. Common in lowlands and hills; widespread throughout the island, including Sinharaja ­Forest Reserve.
Distribution of the Brown-capped Babbler - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Brown-capped Babbler

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. and C. Robson (2020). Brown-capped Babbler (Pellorneum fuscocapillus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bncbab1.01
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