Kalahari Scrub-Robin Cercotrichas paena Scientific name definitions

16 cm; 17–23 g. Like C. galactotes, but with greyer crown and nape, buff-edged blacker wings , more extensive black in tail , creamier-white chin and throat, greyish-buff breast to undertail-coverts, blacker and thinner bill , blackish legs. Sexes similar. Juvenile scaled dusky above and below. Race benguel­lensis has head pale grey, upperparts brownish-grey, tail pale rufous, underparts whitish; <em>damarensis</em> like previous but darker grey above ; oriens darker above and browner below than nominate.

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Mainly insects; regularly takes harvester termite workers (Hodotermitidae), which other robins tend to shun. Of eight stomachs from Botswana and N South Africa, all held termites (Hodotermitidae, Termitidae), five held beetles (Coccinellidae, Curculionidae, Tenebrionidae) and ants (Myrmicinae, Ponerinae), four contained bugs (Pentatomidae), moths and caterpillars, and berry seeds, three held grasshoppers and mantises, one contained spiders. Stomachs of 19 birds from throughout year in Free State held, by number, 29% seeds, 21% ants, 17% termites, 16% berries, 10% beetles, 4% unidentified larvae, 2% bugs, and 1% lepidopterans and orthopterans. Forages mainly on bare ground, usually in partial cover, but in old fields in open.

Song a prolonged series of phrases consisting of pleasing whistles and warbling chirps with many repeated motifs, e.g. “wiiyu, wiiyu, chiiip, wiirip, wiirip, willerip, willerip, chiiyu, chiichiiyu”; more varied and musical than those of partly sympatric C. leucophrys and Tychaedon coryphoeus; some individuals have large repertoire of mimicry. Calls include sparrow-like “siiiup” for contact and in anxiety, and a rasping “ziii” in alarm.