Tawny-bellied Babbler Dumetia hyperythra Scientific name definitions

13 cm; 10–15 g. Striking small babbler, ochrous-brown above and buffy rufous below, with longish graduated tail. Nominate race has forehead to mid-crown rusty brown, slightly darker lateral crownstripe, hindcrown to back dull ochrous-brown, slightly paler on uppertail-coverts; upperwing and tail mid-brown; lores, supercilium and cheek buffy rufous with slight grey tinge; chin, throat, submoustachial area, neck side and underparts rich buffy rufous; iris hazel to creamy white; bill pale brown , paler lower mandible; legs pale yellowish to dusky-tinged yellowish-flesh. Sexes similar. Juvenile lacks rusty tinge on forehead, underparts duller and paler. Race <em>albogularis</em> has white oval patch from chin to upper breast, small white patch on central belly, much paler head side than nominate, buffy rufous slightly paler; phillipsi is like previous, but paler rufous below, with larger white patch on belly, larger bill, white on supercilium and ear-coverts.

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C Laos and C Vietnam (C Annam).

Open wooded country and scrub, grassland dotted with shrubs , bamboo clumps, thorn-scrub, wasteland near forest, deciduous and mixed-deciduous scrub-jungle and forest; avoids pure evergreen stands. Has bred in compounds. Lowlands to 915 m, locally to 1800 m in S India; 75–305 m in Nepal.

Resident.

Mainly insects, in Sri Lanka larvae and minute beetles (Coleoptera) noted; nectar of coral trees (Erythrina) and Salmalia also taken. Found in loose flocks of 5–12 individuals; moves through grass and feeds on ground among dead leaves, foraging in manner of a fulvetta.

Clear whistling song of 7 notes; described also as pleasant, quick, thin, piercing, high-pitched but sharply descending whistling, first part very like song of Indian Bushlark (Mirafra erythroptera), latter part resembling canary-like notes of “sunbird”, the two running into each other, “psssi-yú” or “ssiíú”, then “tit-ut-swit(-it)”, “whit-ut” or “whit-it-it-it”. Contact notes rather feeble but sharp staccato cheeping, “tit”, “twit” and “tut”; varied occasionally by harsher twittering, especially when alarmed; also a soft “tack-tack”, like sound made when two pebbles tapped together.

Jan–Oct; multi-brooded. Nest a loose or neat dome, with side entrance (sometimes towards top), made of coarse grasses, dead bamboo or other leaves, rarely paper shavings, scantily lined with fine grasses, grass roots, fern stems, hair and fine fibres, placed on ground among dead leaves or near ground among bamboo roots, grass or weeds, or in shrub, or thorny bush overgrown with creepers, usually below 1 m, sometimes up to 2 m above ground; in compound in India, once nested at foot of cactus plant, once in Jasminum bush, both close to a house wall. Clutch 2–4 eggs, usually 3–4 in India, 3 in Sri Lanka, white or pinkish-white with speckles, spots, blotches or streaks of reddish-brown to purplish-grey; incubation period 13 days; nestling period 18 days maximum. Brood parasitism by Banded Bay Cuckoo (Cacomantis sonneratii) reported.

Not globally threatened. Rare and local in Nepal. Generally common in India, where seen intermittently in Rajaji National Park and common in Dudhwa National Park (both Uttar Pradesh), but rare in Dehra Dun valley (Uttaranchal), and uncommon in Ranthambhore Sanctuary (Rajasthan); in surveys in 1973–1997 in Western Ghats, found in 17 areas, including seven protected areas, namely Sultan’s Battery, Silent Valley, Parambikulam, Munnar, Periyar East, Periyar West and Agastiamalai. Rare but widespread in Sri Lanka, although common in Uda Walawe National Park. Probably now extinct in Bangladesh.