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Cisticola aridulus

Photo by Leon

[edit] Identification

Length 10-12 cm, mass 4-13 g.

Upper parts pale brown to buff with blackish streaks on the crown and back. Under parts whitish; breast, flanks and undertail coverts pale buff.

Similar to Zitting Cisticola but paler and the tail lacks a distinct dark subterminal bar. The call is more rapid than that of the Zitting Cisticola and is interspersed with wing-snaps.

[edit] Distribution

Arid to sub-humid parts of Africa.

[edit] Taxonomy

Cisticola aridulus has nine subspecies:^[1]

• C. a. aridulus

• Mali, Niger and northern Nigeria to southern Sudan

• C. a. lavendulae

• Coastal Eritrea to Ethiopia and Somalia

• C. a. tanganyika

• Kenya and Tanzania

• C. a. lobito

• Coastal Angola

• C. a. traylori

• Eastern Angola and extreme western Zambia

• C. a. eremicus

• Southern Angola to northern Namibia, southern Zambia, Zimbabwe and northern Botswana

• C. a. perplexus

• Northern Zambia (Bangweulu swamps)

• C. a. kalahari

• Central Namibia to southern Botswana and South Africa

• C. a. caliginus

• Extreme eastern South Africa, Swaziland and southern Mozambique

[edit] Habitat

Grassland and old fields.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Vocalisation

Alarm call: zit zit zitzit.

[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. Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
3. Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154

The larger illustrated guide to birds of southern Africa by Ian Sinclair, P. A. R. Hockey, Peter Hayman, Norman Arlott

• List of references

[edit] External Links