White-browed Laughingthrush Pterorhinus sannio Scientific name definitions

22–24 cm; 52–83 g. Rather small, dull brown laughingthrush with dark brown crown and area behind eye contrasting with white supercilium looping in front of eye to meet broad buffish-white cheek patch. Nominate race has crown rich dark brown, upperparts dull mid-brown with very vague darker streaks or lines, shading slightly olive lower down and on wing fringes, tail as crown, though sometimes paler; long supercilium, lores, cheek and moustachial area to lower ear-coverts whitish, upper ear-coverts bronzy dark brown; chin to breast warm mid-brown, paler and pinker on neck side and shading to buffish-olive on mid-belly and dull greyish olive-brown on flanks and thighs, vent cinnamon-buff; iris dull brownish-maroon to rufous-chestnut, orbital skin pale flesh-grey; bill blackish or horn-brown; legs grey to flesh-brown. Sexes similar. Juvenile has brown parts noticeably more rufescent, and lacks vague mantle streaks. Race oblectans is like nominate, but without shift to buffish-olive on lower upperparts; comis has head markings more buffy white; albosuperciliaris has crown and upper ear-coverts paler, colder brown.

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.

Introduced in Japan (C Honshu) (1 Eguchi, K. and Amano, H.E. (2004). Invasive Birds in Japan. Global Environ. Res. 8(1): 29–39. Close ).

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SUBSPECIES

Pterorhinus sannio albosuperciliaris Scientific name definitions

Distribution

S Assam (N Cachar), Nagaland and Manipur, in NE India.

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SUBSPECIES

Pterorhinus sannio comis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

N, NE and E Myanmar, NW Thailand, N Laos, NW Vietnam (W Tonkin) and S China (W and C Yunnan).

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SUBSPECIES

Pterorhinus sannio sannio Scientific name definitions

Distribution

NE Vietnam (E Tonkin), and SE China from E Yunnan and Guizhou (except N) E to NE Jiangxi and Fujian.

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SUBSPECIES

Pterorhinus sannio oblectans Scientific name definitions

Distribution

SC China (SE Gansu and S Shaanxi S to SW Sichuan and E to W Hubei and N Guizhou).

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.

Scrub and grass, secondary growth, bamboo thickets, open hillsides covered with bracken and wild bramble (Rubus) patches, open grasslands, cultivation borders. In Sichuan and Yunnan (China) occupies extensively modified habitats, even city parks and gardens, frequenting shrubs and flowerbeds. Found at 75–2600 m, but generally only 600–1830 m in India and SE Asia, though locally as low as 215 m in SE Asia.

Resident.

Small molluscs, also grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera); also berries, seeds, rice, oats, and other vegetable matter. Found singly or in pairs; usually in small noisy parties outside breeding season. Forages in undergrowth and on ground, searching through leaf litter. Less shy than most laughingthrushes.

Harsh, shrill, explosive “tcheu” or “tchow” notes, “tcheu…tcheu…tcheu…”; pair-members may call antiphonally. Alarm call a harsh “tcheurrrr” or “chrrrrik”, sometimes a continuous grumbling “chrrreeerraow”, interspersed with shrill, sharp “chrrr-ik…chrrr-ik…”; also described as repeated loud, harsh, emphatic, downslurred “jhéw” and “jhéw-jhu”; harsh buzzy “dzwee” notes when agitated.

Mar–Aug; multi-brooded. Nest reportedly a fairly compact, thick-walled cup, made of grass, ferns, roots, bamboo and other leaves, rice and wheat straw, vines, and pine twigs, bound together with weed stems and tendrils, lined with fern roots and stems, tendrils, rootlets, fine grass, conifer twigs and needles, and bamboo leaves (some nests made almost entirely of bamboo leaves and grass), placed 0·6–6 m above ground in thick bush, brambles, mass of overhanging grass, reeds, bamboo, small sapling, tree, occasionally in roof of building. Clutch 3–4 eggs (usually 3 in Myanmar, 4 in China), pale blue or beautiful soft blue-green to delicate greenish-white, or white; incubation by both sexes, period 14–17 days; nestlings fed by both sexes, nestling period 12 days. Nesting success c. 73% in a study at Nanchong, Sichuan (2 Zhou, F., Zhou, C.-Q., Yang, Z.-S. and Li, X. (2010). Observation on the breeding habit of Garrulax sannio in Nanchong , Sichuan. Chinese J. Zool.. 45(4): 150–155. In Chinese with English summary. Close ).

Not globally threatened. Current status in NE India uncertain, with no recent information. Moderately common to very numerous in S China, where recorded in 12 (22%) of 54 surveyed sites (of which 52 are nature reserves); abundant c. 90 years ago in SE Yunnan. Population in Hong Kong (of captive origin) scarce, local and much reduced; decline may reflect occupation of preferred habitats by Garrulax canorus and P. perspicillatus. Generally locally common to common in SE Asian range. Reputed to be a pest in crops and fruit ­orchards.