The scrub robins or bush chats are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus ''Cercotrichas''. They were formerly in the

thrush ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...

family, ( Turdidae), but are more often now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family, ( Muscicapidae). They are not closely related to the Australian scrub-robins, genus ''

Drymodes ''Drymodes'' is a genus of bird in the family Petroicidae. It was traditionally held to have two species, but molecular and behavioural differences led to the split of the New Guinea populations from the northern scrub robin. The paper by Les C ...

'' in the family

Petroicidae The bird family Petroicidae includes 51 species in 19 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called th ...

. The genus name ''Cercotrichas'' is from Ancient Greek ''kerkos'', "tail" and ''trikhas'', "thrush".. Scrub robins are mainly African species of open woodland or scrub, which nest in bushes or on the ground, but the

rufous-tailed scrub robin The rufous-tailed scrub robin (''Cercotrichas galactotes'') is a medium-sized member of the family Muscicapidae. Other common names include the rufous scrub robin, rufous bush chat, rufous bush robin and the rufous warbler. It breeds around the M ...

also breeds in southern Europe and east to Pakistan. The genus contains the following species: * Karoo scrub robin, ''Cercotrichas coryphaeus'' *

Forest scrub robin The forest scrub robin (''Cercotrichas leucosticta'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asi ...

, ''Cercotrichas leucosticta'' *

Bearded scrub robin The bearded scrub robin (''Cercotrichas quadrivirgata''), also known as the eastern bearded scrub robin, is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in eastern and southern Africa. Taxonomy This species was described as ''Thamno ...

, ''Cercotrichas quadrivirgata'' *

Miombo scrub robin The Miombo scrub robin (''Cercotrichas barbata''), is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or ...

, ''Cercotrichas barbata'' *

Black scrub robin The black scrub robin (''Cercotrichas podobe'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Israel, Jordan, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nig ...

, ''Cercotrichas podobe'' *

Rufous-tailed scrub robin The rufous-tailed scrub robin (''Cercotrichas galactotes'') is a medium-sized member of the family Muscicapidae. Other common names include the rufous scrub robin, rufous bush chat, rufous bush robin and the rufous warbler. It breeds around the M ...

, ''Cercotrichas galactotes'' *

Kalahari scrub robin The Kalahari scrub robin (''Cercotricha paena'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is sometimes known as the sandy scrub robin. Range It is found in southern Angola, Botswana, Namibia, northern South Africa, and Zimbabwe, where ...

, ''Cercotrichas paena'' *

Brown-backed scrub robin The brown-backed scrub robin (''Cercotrichas hartlaubi'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and ...

, ''Cercotrichas hartlaubi'' * White-browed scrub robin, ''Cercotrichas leucophrys'' *

Brown scrub robin The brown scrub robin (''Cercotrichas signata'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Eswatini, Mozambique and, South Africa. Its natural habitat is subtropical dry or moist forest A forest is an area of land do ...

, ''Cercotrichas signata''

References

Further reading