White-browed Scimitar-Babbler Pomatorhinus schisticeps Scientific name definitions

19–23 cm; 40 g. Medium-sized scimitar-babbler, olive-brown above and white below, with long white supercilium and yellow bill and eyes. Nominate race has crown slaty grey with indistinct blackish shaft streaks, shading on nape to ochrous olive-brown upperparts; upperwing and tail brown; long supercilium from above nares to upper neck side white, lores, cheek and ear-coverts blackish, chin and submoustachial area to mid-belly white, neck side down to breast side and flanks chestnut, fading to dull ochrous-grey on lower flanks, thighs and vent; iris yellow or pale orange, sometimes lavender or pale red; bill yellow, black base of upper mandible; legs bluish-slate or greenish-slate to brownish. Sexes similar. Juvenile is duller and paler than adult, slightly browner above (but reported also as reddish-olive above), rufous on forehead, and rusty on breast and flanks. Race leucogaster is smaller than nominate, more olive-grey above, with slightly paler and less extensive chestnut on neck and body sides; salimalii has blacker crown and ear-coverts; cryptanthus is very slightly more rufous-tinged above, slightly less grey on hindcrown, often more rufous on nape; mearsi is somewhat slatier on upperparts, with blacker tail; nuchalis is slightly smaller and shorter-billed, crown concolorous with upperparts, variably broad or intense rufous extending around nape, and breast side and flanks mostly ochrous-grey with weak rufous-chestnut edges; ripponi is very like previous, but almost no trace of rufous on breast side and flanks; difficilis is like last two, but upperparts warmer, wings and uppertail dark ochraceous rufescent-brown; olivaceus resembles nuchalis, but crown and upperparts more olive-toned; humilis is similar to last but small (19–20 cm), and shorter-billed; annamensis is also similar but has darker crown demarcated from mantle, maroon-chestnut of nape and neck continuing down flanks; klossi has crown olive, upperparts somewhat more rufous-tinged.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Also, unknown race, in SE Bangladesh and W Mizoram, and in Sundarbans mangroves (SE West Bengal and SW Bangladesh), where recently recorded (6 Ash, D., Nandy, S., Mitra, T. and Chowkida, N. (2016). White-browed Scimitar Babbler Pomatorhinus schisticeps in Indian Sundarbans. Indian Birds 11(2): 47–48. Close ).

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps leucogaster Scientific name definitions

Distribution

N India from Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) E to Garhwal (Uttarakhand).

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps schisticeps Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Kumaon (Uttarakhand) E to NE India (C Arunachal Pradesh).

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps salimalii Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Mishmi Hills, in E Arunachal Pradesh (NE India).

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps cryptanthus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Meghalaya, S Assam, Nagaland and N Manipur (NE India) S at least to NE Bangladesh.

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps mearsi Scientific name definitions

Distribution

W and C Myanmar (W of R Irrawaddy).

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps ripponi Scientific name definitions

Distribution

C (Mogok) and NE Myanmar, NW Thailand and NW Laos.

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps nuchalis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

C and SE Myanmar (E of R Irrawaddy).

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps difficilis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

S Myanmar (including N Tenasserim) and adjacent NW Thailand.

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps olivaceus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Lowlands of s Myanmar and peninsular Thailand

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps humilis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

N and E Thailand, S Laos and Vietnam (C Annam).

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps klossi Scientific name definitions

Distribution

SE Thailand and SW Cambodia.

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps annamensis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

extreme E Cambodia and S Vietnam (S Annam, N Cochinchina).

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SUBSPECIES

Pomatorhinus schisticeps fastidiosus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Malay Peninsula (s Myanmar and Isthmus of Kra to Trang)

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Dense undergrowth in deciduous and evergreen broadleaf forest, secondary growth, well-wooded ravines, mixed bamboo forest, scrub-jungle, and grassland; to 2650 m in India, 245–1500 m in Nepal, 400–1590 m in Bhutan, up to 2600 m in SE Asia.

Resident.

Insects, also small seeds and berries. Found in pairs during breeding season; otherwise in small parties, joining mixed feeding flocks which often contain other scimitar-babblers and, in Bhutan, Garrulax monileger and Garrulax pectoralis. Forages on ground, hops in undergrowth and ascends trees.

As with congeners, many songs are duets that sound as if by single bird. Song a series of usually 3–7 clear, quite fast hollow piping notes, e.g. “hu-hu-hu-hu-hu”, “whu-pu-pu-pu-pu-po”, “whu-wu-wu-pu”, “whu-wu-wu-wu-wu-wu-wu” or “whi-hu-wi”, sometimes with more abrupt, higher and more stressed first note or longer pause between first and second notes. May give faster “whuhuhuhuhuhu” or shorter “wu-hup” or “oo-hu” (perhaps by female), which may be combined in duets as “wu-hu-hu-hu-wu-hup-wu-hu-hu-hu…”. Calls include hoarse raspy syncopated gurgling, “wheesh-whurweeweesh!”, or 2-note version, second note highest; hissing, upturned rattles “kurda-weesh’sh’sh’sh”; when alarmed, harsh mocking “whihihihihi” and “whichitit”, etc.; excited pairs give variety of mixed calls, including rather nasal, husky “whor-whor-whor”, very nasal “wiaaah” or “woieee”, jumbled chattering mixed with quite high “who” notes, short clear “oh” and “whu” notes, and throaty “wuhu-wuhu” and “wuhu wuhu-wip”.

Nov–Aug. Nest, built by both sexes over c. 10 days, a large, loose dome, usually on its side, entrance at smaller end or at side, made of dry bamboo or other leaves, coarse grasses, rootlets, tendrils, strips of bark and bracken leaves, lined (often thickly) with thin strips of dry bark, bark fibres, fine grasses, shredded dry bamboo leaves and rootlets, placed low down in bamboo clump or thick bush, grass clump, bank at foot of tree, or buried among dry leaves on ground, in depression on ground or at foot of small screw pine (Pandanus), up to 1 m above ground. Clutch 2–5 eggs (usually 3–4 in India and Myanmar), white; incubation by both sexes. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Frequent in Nepal up to 915 m, then rare to 1500 m. Local but frequently recorded in Bhutan. In India, fairly common in W Himalayas up to 1500 m, becoming locally common in E up to 2000 m; fairly common in Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary (Haryana), rare on New Forest campus at Dehra Dun and uncommon in Dehra Dun valley (Uttaranchal); common in Nameri National Park and uncommon in Kaziranga National Park ­(Assam), and present elsewhere in NE India in (at least) Buxa Tiger Reserve (West Bengal), Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary and Mouling National Park (Arunachal Pradesh) and Balphakram National Park (Meghalaya). Generally fairly common to common in SE Asian range. Common in Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan National Parks, in Thailand. Common (at least before 1970) at Bokor and in Cardomom Mts, in Cambodia. Occasional in Xe Pian National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA), Phou Xang He NBCA, Dong Hua Sao NBCA and Phou Dendin NBCA, in Laos, and present in Phou Khaokhoay, Nakai-Nam Theun and Hin Namno NBCAs. In Vietnam, present in Thuong Da Nhim and Chu Yang Sin Nature Reserves (Da Lat Plateau, in S Annam), and in five protected areas in the Annamese lowlands, although scarce in Nam Bai Cat Tien National Park (Cochinchina).