The black-crowned tchagra (''Tchagra senegalus'') is a

bushshrike The bushshrikes are smallish passerine birds. They were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the family Malaconotidae, a name that allud ...

. This family of passerine birds is closely related to the true

shrike Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also know ...

s in the family Laniidae, and was once included in that group. This species is found in the

Arabian peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

and most of Africa in scrub, open woodland, semi-desert and cultivation.

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the black-crowned tchagra in his based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name and the Latin . The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the

binomial system The binomial system ( es, Sistema binominal) is a voting system that was used in the legislative elections of Chile between 1989 and 2013. From an electoral system point of view, the binomial system is in effect the D'Hondt method with an ope ...

and are not recognised by the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

'' for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the black-crowned tchagra. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Lanius senegalus'' and cited Brisson's work. The species is now placed in the genus ''

Tchagra The tchagras are passerine birds in the bushshrike family, which are closely related to the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, and were once included in that group. Description These are long-tailed birds, typically with a grey or grey-brown ...

'' that was introduced by the French naturalist

René Lesson René-Primevère Lesson (20 March 1794 – 28 April 1849) was a French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist. Biography Lesson was born at Rochefort, and entered the Naval Medical School in Rochefort at the age of sixteen. He ...

in 1831. Nine

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are recognised.

Description

left, Adults have a solid black crown, bordered by buff superciliary stripes, but juveniles have a brownish crown. The black-crowned tchagra is a colourful and unmistakable species, 19–22 cm in length. It has a black crown and eye stripes separated by a broad white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

. The underparts are pale grey and the upperparts pale brown. The folded wings are chestnut and the tail is black, tipped white. The bill is black. Sexes are similar, but young birds have a brown cap and a pale yellow bill. There are 14 subspecies, varying in size and the colour of the back, underparts and eyestripe. Black-crowned tchagra has a descending whistling song, , and can be readily tempted into sight by imitating this call, presumably because the bird is concerned that there is an intruder in its territory. The male also has a switchback display flight.

Behaviour

Black-crowned tchagra lays two or three heavily marked white eggs in a cup nest in a tree or bush. Both sexes, but mainly the female, incubate for 12–15 days to hatching; the chicks fledge after another 15 days. It is similar in habits to the shrikes, hunting insects and other small prey from a perch in a bush, although it sits less conspicuously than true shrikes.

References

* Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ''Birds of The Gambia'', * Sinclair, Hockey and Tarboton, ''SASOL Birds of Southern Africa'', * Tony Harris and Kim Franklin, ''Shrikes & Bush Shrikes'' (Christopher Helm, 2000)

External links

* Black-crowned tchagra
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

Black-crowned tchagra videos, photos & sounds
on the Internet Bird Collection

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1317767

black-crowned tchagra The black-crowned tchagra (''Tchagra senegalus'') is a bushshrike. This family of passerine birds is closely related to the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, and was once included in that group. This species is found in the Arabian peninsula ...

Birds of Africa Birds of the Middle East