Striped Laughingthrush Trochalopteron virgatum Scientific name definitions

23 cm. Fairly small, slim laughingthrush, brown with narrow whitish streaks above, with chestnut wings, buffy-white and rufous face, chestnut throat and whitish-streaked rufous-buff belly. Has crown to nape dull chestnut-brown, shading to more olive grey-brown on mantle, back and scap­ulars, all with long whitish shaft streaks, rump, uppertail-coverts and tail plain olive grey-brown; greater upperwing-coverts whitish-tipped rich chestnut, with pale greyish outer primaries and chestnut wingpanel; supercilium from bill base buffy white, turning white posteriorly, lores rufous, upper ear-coverts dull chestnut-brown with buffy streaks, submoustachial streak, cheek and lower ear-coverts buffy; chin, malar and upper throat rich chestnut, shading to rufous-chestnut and acquiring narrow whitish shaft streaks on lower throat and breast, streaks continuing onto pale rufous-buff belly and fading out on more richly rufescent lower underparts; iris brown to pale brown, sometimes yellowish, orbital skin dusky plumbeous; bill black to blackish-brown; legs flesh to pinkish-grey. Sexes similar. Juvenile is paler, more rufescent above than adult, with paler throat, no streaking on lower underparts.

S Assam (N Cachar), Nagaland, NE Arunachal Pradesh (1 Srinivasan, S., Dalvi, S., Naniwadekar, R., Anand, M.O. and Datta, A. (2010). The birds of Namdapha National Park and surrounding areas: recent significant records and a checklist of the species. Forktail 26: 92–116. Close ), Manipur and Mizoram, in NE India, and adjacent W Myanmar.

Thick scrub, fern and grass cover near broadleaf evergreen forest, secondary growth, forest edge, abandoned cultivation; at 900–2400 m.

Resident.

Mainly insects. Generally found singly or in pairs; not so gregarious as some laughingthrushes. Skulking.

Song of two types, territorial in function, often given antiphonally by pairs. First type (probably by male) a clear, hurried “chwi-pieu”, “pi-pweu” or “wiwi-weu”, repeated every few seconds, alternatively as thin, sweet, quick, anxious-sounding whistle with short downslurred and then upslurred introductory note, “tui’téééér” (“ééé” strongly downslurred and ending abruptly at low point), or longer version with more and higher-pitched introductory notes. Second type (probably by female) a loud staccato rattling trill, usually with shorter introductory note, “cho-prrrrrrt” or “chrrru-prrrrrrt”, repeated after slightly longer intervals. Calls with mixed harsh “chit” and “chrrrrrr” notes.

Apr–Jul. Nest reportedly a deep, rather neat, stoutly built cup, made of tendrils, creeper stems, dead bamboo and other leaves, grasses, roots, fine bents, bracken and moss, lined with fern roots and stalks, moss and grass roots, rootlets, fine grasses and feathery grass-tails, placed from near ground to 2·4 m up in thick bush, small tree or grass. Clutch 2–3 eggs, clear pale blue to pale blue-green. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Eastern Himalayas EBA. In India, locally not uncommon in Assam and common resident in Nagaland in 1990s, although exploited by cagebird trade; seen near Phawngpui (Blue Mountain) and in Murlen National Parks, in Mizoram. Common and evidently distributed throughout the Chin Hills in Myanmar, where fairly common in Natmataung National Park.