Family Laughingthrushes and allies (Leiotrichidae)
Least Concern
Eastern Moustached Laughingthrush (Garrulax cinereiceps)
Taxonomy
French: Garrulaxe de Styan German: Grauscheitelhäherling Spanish: Charlatán ceniciento oriental
Taxonomy:
Trochalopteron cinereiceps
Styan
, 1887,Yunnan
.Distribution:
C & E China from S Gansu and S Shaanxi E to S Jiangsu, W Shanghai, Fujian and N Guangdong, and S to S & SE Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi; also recorded in adjacent N Vietnam (Trung Khanh district#R).
Introduced in Japan (Shikoku I#R).
Descriptive notes
21–24 cm. A chestnut-and rufous laughingthrush with dark crown and long moustache. Adult has dull dark grey forehead and crown to nape, whitish lores and broad area beneath... read more
Voice
Poorly documented. Calls include repeated upslurred short churrs, “pr’r’r’r’ip”, sometimes mixed... read more
Habitat
Thickets and scrub at edges of forest and second growth, also abandoned cultivation, bamboo,... read more
Food and feeding
Insects, including small beetles (Coleoptera); also seeds, berries and small fruits. Forages singly and in pairs in breeding season, but... read more
Breeding
Season early Mar to early Aug in Sichuan (C China). Study in Sichuan found that the species is a cooperative breeder (although no evidence... read more
Movements
Resident.
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Appears to be fairly common across its very large range in China, including at Emei Shan Protected Scenic Area, in Sichuan. In... read more
Hitherto treated as conspecific with G. cineraceus, but differs in its dull grey-brown vs black crown (3); warmer, darker upperparts (1); dull chestnut supercilium and ear-coverts with no postocular black streak (3); and pale vinous vs buffy-whitish throat, submoustachial area and breast (ns[1]). Width of zone of hybridization with strenuus unknown (score at least 1), and taxonomic status of SC & SW Sichuan populations (and perhaps elsewhere) awaiting clarification (presumed here to belong with present species). Monotypic.