Streaked Wren-Babbler Gypsophila brevicaudata Scientific name definitions

12–17 cm; 17·3–22·7 g. Smallish, rather short-tailed brown babbler with heavy blackish streaking above, dull below with streaked whitish throat and breast. Nominate race has crown and upperparts ochraceous-brown, blackish edges of feathers forming broad long black lines, fluffy rump unpatterned dark ochraceous-brown, upperwing dark brown with warm olive-brown fringes and tiny whitish tips (wing spots) on some greater coverts and most flight-feathers, tail dark chestnut-brown; face (lores, supercilium, ear-coverts, cheek and submoustachial area) dull greyish with buff and brown mottling; chin to upper breast greyish white with thick, soft-edged but neat olive-brown streaks, shading into dull rufous breast side and breast, these shading to streaky dull rufous on lower flanks, belly, thighs and vent; iris red, brown or chocolate-red; bill dark brownish horn, lower mandible grey; legs dark brown to greyish-flesh. Sexes similar. Juvenile is rather uniform dark brown, with pale shaft streaks on crown to upper back, small dull wing spots, paler chin and throat centre, slightly paler and warmer underparts. Race striatus is buffier above than nominate, with buff wing spots, slightly duller flanks and vent; stevensi is largest, colder dark olive-tinged buff above, colder and darker brown below, with only slight dull rufous edges on central breast and belly, chin and throat almost occluded by longer, broader grey-brown streaks; proximus is like previous but smaller, slightly brighter above, paler dull ochraceous-buff below; griseigularis resembles last, but throat streaks greyer, more diffuse and extending onto whiter breast, with lower belly and vent rusty; <em>rufiventer</em> is slightly bigger than nominate, with broader dark edging above, buff wing spots, richer rufous below; leucostictus has entire underside broadly streaked dark olive-grey and stony white.

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Previously placed in Napothera. Has been thought to be possibly conspecific with G. crassa. Races remarkably diverse within rather narrow phenotypic confines, forming as many as five groups: (a) nominate and striatus (rufous below, broad throat-streaks); (b) stevensi and proximus (dark rich brown below, less distinct throat-streaks); (c) leucostictus (broad throat- and breast-streaks, to belly); (d) griseigularis (smallish with very vague throat-streaks, paler breast and belly); and (e) rufiventer (apparently richer rufous below with buff vs white wing-spots); however, vocally all groups appear very similar (1 Boesman, P. (2016). Notes on the vocalizations of Streaked Wren-babbler (Napothera brevicaudata). HBW Alive Ornithological Note 271. In: Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ). Birds in N & E Myanmar and W Yunnan (China) sometimes separated as race venningi, supposedly larger and more rufous, but fall within range of variation of nominate. Racial identity of birds in NW Laos uncertain, conditionally included in nominate. Seven subspecies recognized.

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.

Broadleaf evergreen forest , often near rocky outcrops; limestone areas outside the range of Turdinus crispifrons, and occasionally alongside latter, e.g. in E Tonkin (N Vietnam). Found at 300–2100 m in India, to 1830 m in SE Asia and China, but only above 610 m in Peninsular Malaysia.

Insects , grubs and small molluscs. Forages in pairs or small groups on ground, just above ground in dense or tangled vegetation, or around rocks and boulders.

Song consists of very variable, loud, clear, melancholy ringing whistles, repeated after intervals, “chi-oo”, “peee-oo”, “pu-ee”, “chiu-ree”, “chewee-chui” and “pee-wi”; sometimes single “pweeee”. Also as alternating short upslurred “tséúrp” and downslurred and then upslurred “tseeur” whistles; alternating “tuwhééér, tuwhit!…”; slow duet of a short, moderately downslurred “tseeeur” and lower, moderately upslurred “tsurr”; strongly upturned “fuwhéét!” or “fuwhééáh”. When alarmed, utters prolonged harsh, buzzy, toneless, scolding “trrreeettt” and “chrrreerrrrt”, often interspersed with plaintive “wher” notes; other calls include excited, irregular chorus of short quick musical notes at various pitches, a sequence of alternating higher and lower hard staccato notes “chúrk-urt-chúrk-urt…”, and a hard, rising-and-falling, even-tempo churring trill.