From Opus

Photo by svenky1962
Hebbal, Bangalore, India, Jul 2006

Prinia socialis

[edit] Identification

13-14 cm.

• Ash grey above
• Black eye stripe
• White underparts
• Yellow flanks
• Short rounded wings
• Long tail
• Strong legs
• Short black bill
  

Sexes identical. Male develops a blacker bill and mouth in the breeding season.

[edit] Distribution

Asia: found in Nepal, Pakistan, India, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

There are 4 subspecies

• P. s. stewarti:

• Northern Pakistan (upper Indus River) to Nepal and northern India

• P. s. inglisi:

• North-eastern India to Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam and Bangladesh

• P. s. socialis:

• Peninsular India

• P. s. brevicauda:

• Sri Lanka

[edit] Habitat

Wetlands, scrub, grasslands and gardens up to 400 feet

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects.

[edit] Breeding

The nest is formed from leaves stitched together with webs and hair, it's placed close to the ground in a shrub or tall grass. Three to five pointed oval very glossy, chestnut or red eggs are laid. Both parents share incubation and feeding the young.

[edit] Vocalisation

The song is a repetitive tchup, tchup, tchup or zeet-zeet-zeet.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia

[edit] External Links