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Chin Hills Wren-Babbler Spelaeornis oatesi 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

11–12 cm. Small brown-and-white wren-babbler without rufous tones below. Male has crown, submoustachial area and malar area connecting to neck side and upperparts olive-brown with darker fringes (creating rather dense but vague scaly effect), plain upperwing and tail slightly more rufescent; lores and ear-coverts olive-buff; chin to lower belly white with dark brown spots, flanks olive-brown with buff and dark spots, thighs and vent plain olive-brown; iris brown; bill blackish; legs brown. Female is very like male, but slightly duller white below. Juvenile is warmer brown above with little scaling, washed warm brown below, with only throat and mid-belly white, fewer spots.

Systematics History

See comments under S. chocolatinus. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

E India (Mizoram) and W Myanmar (Chin Hills).

Habitat

Occupies understorey of broadleaf evergreen forest, forest edge, secondary growth, scrub, fern clumps, bamboo thickets, and tangles of grass and scrub on steep slopes near forest; at 1400–2800 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Food presumably small invertebrates. Usually seen foraging within 0·5 m of ground.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Sings with repeated loud, short, abrupt, undulating warble, e.g. “chiwi-chiwi-chiwi-chew” or “witchi-witchi-witchi-wu”, first note highest, last short; sometimes shortened, or hurried to “wituwituwitu-wu”, or extended to “witchu-witchu-witchu witchu-witchu-witchu…” and hurried “witchuwiwitchu­wiwitchuwi”; very like that of S. longicaudatus, but phrases slightly shorter, more rapidly delivered, and notes more disyllabic. Calls with soft “tuc tuc tuc…” and “chit-chit-chit…”, also very quiet “ik ik ik…” (audible at close range).

Breeding

Mar–Jun in Myanmar. Nest a large domed, sometimes firmly woven oval with entrance near top or side, made externally of dead leaves, canna leaves and coarse grasses, internally of grass stems, fibres and moss, lined with peculiar absorbent waterproof substance c. 1·75 mm thick (a papier-mâché-like plaster, apparently consisting of chewed thistledown or grass), placed among dry grass or among stems of low plant on damp sloping bank. Clutch 2–4 eggs, dull white or tinged pink, sparingly freckled with reddish and faint purple. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not assessed. Locally common in Myanmar; common in Natmautaung National Park. Locally common in tiny range in NE India.
Distribution of the Chin Hills Wren-Babbler - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Chin Hills Wren-Babbler

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. and C. Robson (2020). Chin Hills Wren-Babbler (Spelaeornis oatesi), 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.chhwrb1.01
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