Dorst's Cisticola Cisticola guinea Scientific name definitions

11–12 cm; 8–12 g. A small cisticola with dull rufous crown , plain or lightly mottled back and medium-long graduated tail. In breeding plumage has buffy face, creamy supraloral stripe and rufous-washed cheek; rufous-brown crown merging into grey-brown upperparts; uppertail-coverts reddish-brown; flight-feathers and greater upperwing-coverts dark brown with rufous-buff margins; tail grey-brown with indistinct subterminal dark band and narrow pale grey tips on all except central pair of feathers; creamy below, paler on throat and central belly, washed grey-brown on flanks, vent rich buffy; iris brown; bill black above, paler below; legs dull pink. Distinguished from very similar C. ruficeps by duller rufous crown not demaracted from brown back, buffy underparts, reduced spotting on undertail. Non-breeding plumage is dull brown above, mantle and back diffusely streaked or mottled dark brown, tail slightly longer and more rufous, underparts more buffy. Sexes alike. Juvenile undescribed; presumably similar to non-breeding adult but washed lemon-yellow below.

Sudan–Guinea savannas from Senegal E to N Cameroon and extreme SW Chad; possibly also NE Mali.

Male song is a rather dry, metallic trill lasting 1–1·2 seconds (quite different from that of C. ruficeps); in aggressive encounters, trill rate slows and is followed by 4–6 more musical 2-note calls, “ti-t-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r ti-shee ti-shee ti-shee ti-shee”. Also a piercing, descending “tseeep seeep seeep seeep”.