Black Laughingthrush Melanocichla lugubris Scientific name definitions

25·5–27 cm. Medium-sized blackish laughingthrush with bare bluish-white postocular patch and heavy orange-red bill. Crown, face and upper throat are glossy black, feathers around bill base bristly and those on mid-crown rather sparse; entire rest of plumage dull blackish-grey , tail and inner webs of wing feathers blacker; iris brown to hazel, or blue with brown edge, orbital skin bluish-slate to violet, postocular skin bluish-white; bill orange to reddish-orange; legs brownish-grey to dirty dark green; blue to violet skin on side of throat/neck sometimes visible when vocalizing. Sexes similar. Juvenile is browner and duller than adult, particularly on mantle and wing-coverts, with neck skin dark blue.

Formerly treated as conspecific with M. calva. Monotypic.

Broadleaf evergreen forest, disturbed forest, forest edge, treefall light-gaps, secondary growth, at 500–1600 m; above 800 m in Peninsular Malaysia.

Resident.

Insects, including curculionid and other beetles, ants (Formicidae), grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera), and caterpillars; also spiders (Araneae), and some seeds. Forages in pairs or small flocks, sometimes in association with bird waves. Usually close to ground, sometimes up to 9 m in trees. Chisels away at rotten branches to locate food.

Song , typically by at least two birds at once, consists of amazing loud hollow whooping “huup-huup-huup…” and rapid loud “okh-ohk-okh-okh-okh…”, accompanied by harsh “awh” or “aak” notes; very similar to that of M. calva.

Oct–Apr. One nest was a bulky cup made of vegetable fibres and leaves, loose and ragged outer layer decorated with green moss and bound with roots, epiphyte stems and coarse fibres, and clearly defined, neater inner core and lining of interlaced dried bamboo leaves and blackish fibres probably from dudok palm (Caryota aequatorialis), placed c. 2·5 m up in fork of slender sapling on steep bank by jungle stream. Clutch 2 eggs, pale blue with small irregular charcoal spots and smudges. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia EBA. Generally uncommon in S Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia; fairly common at Bukit Fraser (Peninsular Malaysia). Present in Gunung Leuser National Park, in Sumatra.