The Sichuan bush warbler (''Locustella chengi'') lives primarily in the thick brush and on tea plantations in five mountainous provinces of central China. It is a relatively small bird with a weight of 10 grams and an average length of 13 cm. Unlike its congener the

russet bush warbler The russet bush warbler (''Locustella mandelli'') is a songbird species. Formerly placed in the "Old World warbler" assemblage, it is now placed in the newly recognized family Locustellidae. ''B. mandelli'' was until recently considered a subsp ...

, which is found in the same mountains and also in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, the Sichuan bush warbler prefers elevations below 7,500 feet. The two species shared a common ancestor about 850,000 years ago. They are distinguished by plumage and sonogram terminology – their songs. ''Locustella chengi'' emits a long buzz, followed by a shorter click, often repeated in series, and the song is in a lower frequency than its genetic cousin. The name honors

Cheng Tso-hsin Tso-hsin Cheng (郑作新 also transcribed as Zheng Zuoxin) (18 November 1906 – 27 June 1998) was a Chinese ornithologist known for his seminal work on the birds of China and mentoring a generation of researchers. Educated in the United States, ...

(Zheng Zuoxin, 郑作新) (1906–1998), founder of the Peking Natural History Museum and a prominent Chinese ornithologist.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q19845689 Sichuan bush warbler Birds of Central China Sichuan bush warbler Sichuan bush warbler Sichuan bush warbler