Abbott's Babbler
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Abbott's babbler (''Malacocincla abbotti'') is a species of
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
in the family
Pellorneidae The ground babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly Old World passerine birds belonging to the superfamily Sylvioidea. They are quite diverse in size and coloration, and usually characterised by soft, fluffy plumage and a tail on average t ...
. It is widely distributed along 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 Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
in
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
and extending into the forests of
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
. They are short-tailed and stout birds which forage in pairs in dense undergrowth close to the ground and their presence is indicated by their distinctive calls.


Taxonomy

Abbott's babbler was described by the English zoologist
Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the Asiatic Society, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. He set about updating the museum ...
in 1845 and given the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Malacocincla abbotti''. The
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
name ''Malacocincla'' combines the
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
''malakos'' meaning "soft" with modern
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''cinclus'', meaning "
thrush Thrush may refer to: Birds * Thrush (bird), any of the birds in the family Turdidae ** List of thrush species * Antthrushes, the Formicariidae family of birds * Dohrn's warbler, or Dohrn's thrush-babbler, a species ''Sylvia dohrni'' in the famil ...
"; referring to the birds' full and drooping plumage. The specific name ''abbotti'' was chosen by Blyth to honour the specimen collector, Lieutenant Colonel J. R. Abbott (1811–1888), who served in British India as Assistant Commissioner of the
Arakan Arakan ( or ; , ), formerly anglicised as Aracan, is the historical geographical name for the northeastern coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, covering present-day Bangladesh and Myanmar. The region was called "Arakan" for centuries. It is ...
from 1837 to 1845. Blyth erected the new genus ''Malacocincla'' for this species, but subsequent workers placed the species in ''Turdinus'' and ''Trichastoma''. A revision reinstated its placement in ''Malacocincla'' in 1985. A 2001 study confirmed the cohesiveness of the ''Trichastoma'' group but a 2012 study shows that ''M. abbotti'' and ''M. sepiaria'' are in a clade along with Napothera, while ''M. cinereiceps'' and ''M. malaccensis'' fall into a different clade along with the genus ''Trichastoma'' and several species of ''Pellorneum''. An isolated population occurs in the Visakhapatnam Ghats, well separated from the nearest main distribution along the Himalayas and was named after Indian ornithologist K.S.R. Krishna Raju by Dillon Ripley and
Bruce Beehler Bruce McPherson Beehler (born October 11, 1951, in Baltimore) is an ornithologist and research associate of the Bird Division of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. Prior to this appointment, Beehler worked for Conse ...
in 1985. The nominate population is from southern Myanmar and extends to southern Tenasserim and northwestern Malaya including the Langkawi Islands. Several other populations of this widespread species have been named as subspecies and not all are recognized. The population in the eastern Himalayas from eastern Nepal to Sikkim and Assam was named as ''amabile'', but is now considered within the nominate subspecies. Others include ''altera'' (central Laos and Annam), ''williamsoni'' (eastern Thailand and northwestern Cambodia), ''obscurior'' (coastal southeastern Thailand), ''olivaceum'' (Peninsular Thailand and Malaya), ''sirense'' (Borneo, Pulau Mata Siri), and ''baweanum'' (Bawean Island). Eight
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
are recognized: * ''M. a. abbotti'' Blyth, 1845 – east Himalayas to central Malay Peninsula * ''M. a. krishnarajui'' Ripley & Beehler, 1985 – east India * ''M. a. williamsoni'' Deignan, 1948 – east Thailand to south Vietnam * ''M. a. obscurior'' Deignan, 1948 – east Thailand and southwest Cambodia * ''M. a. altera''
Sims Sims, sims or SIMS may refer to: Games * ''The Sims'', a life simulation video game series ** ''The Sims'' (video game), the first installment, released in 2000 ** ''The Sims 2'', the second installment, released in 2004 ** ''The Sims 3'', the ...
, 1957 – central Laos and central Vietnam * ''M. a. olivacea'' Strickland, 1847 – south Malay Peninsula and
Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
* ''M. a. concreta'' Büttikofer, 1895 – Borneo and
Belitung Island Belitung ( Belitung Malay: ''Belitong'', formerly Billiton) is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. It covers (including offshore islands such as Mendanau Island), and had a population of 309,097 at the 2020 C ...
* ''M. a. baweana'' Oberholser, 1917 –
Bawean Island Bawean () is an island of Indonesia located approximately north of Surabaya in the Java Sea, off the coast of Java. It is administered by Gresik Regency of East Java province. It is approximately in diameter and is circumnavigated by a sing ...
(north of Java)


Description

The adult Abbott's babbler is a nondescript, brown, short-tailed babbler that moves about in the low vegetation often near streams and in the vicinity of tree ferns and tangled vegetation. The throat is gray-white while the center of the belly is white, and the flanks are olive. The undertail coverts are rusty-colored. The sexes are alike. It has a short tail and heavy bill; it is drab olive-brown with bright rusty lower flanks and vent, a grayish-white throat and breast, and variable pale gray supercilium and lores. Juvenile birds have dark rufescent-brown crowns and upperparts. The calls are distinctive. The subspecies ''M. a. krishnarajui'' of the
Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches along the East Coast of India, eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of , it traverses the states and union territories of India, states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Prade ...
has a darker russet tail and rump than the Himalayan
nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: 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. ...
. Specimens measure in length, with a head of , and a tail of .


Distribution and habitat

In South Asia, Abbott's babbler is resident from Nepal to
Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...
and the Assam Valley in India, south throughout the South Assam hills, including
Meghalaya Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...
and south through the Lushai Hills. It is also resident in east and south Bangladesh (around
Jessore Jessore (, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District in Khulna Division. It lies in southwestern Bangladesh. It is home to the first flight training school of the Bangladeshi Air Force, established in 1971. Jessore city consists of 9 wa ...
and
Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...
), and the Eastern Ghats in northeast
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...
and
Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...
. It occurs up to , in Nepal. It is widely distributed across Southeast Asia. It is common across much of its large range. It is seen in the
understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the Canopy (biology), forest ca ...
of broadleaved evergreen forest, forest edge, secondary growth, and scrub. In Singapore, they have been noted as being tolerant to disturbance and adapting to secondary growth, and disturbed forest.


Behavior and ecology

Abbott's babbler usually moves around in pairs close to the ground. They breed from April to July (summer monsoon), with the nest being a carefully placed but bulky cup low in palms or other undergrowth. A study in Thailand found that most nests are placed in spiny palms and rattans. The usual clutch is 3 to 5 eggs which are bright salmon with dark blotches and red lines. When disturbed at the nest, the birds slip over the edge and fly with labored wing beats and then hop out of sight. More than one brood may be raised in a season. Their distinctive calls consists of three or four notes with the a drop on the middle note. The antiphonal duet of a male and female has the male leading with a "poor'ol bear", followed by the female's "dear dear". The tunes may however change over time. The birds tend to remain within a well marked area and do not wander widely. The song is a variable short series of around three to four notes of rich, fluty, liquid, slurred, short whistled notes; these are sometimes delivered haltingly and sometimes rapidly. The evening group song consists of a recurrent sputtering sound, which is low and slurred; ending with a sharp . Calls include soft mewing notes, and a pulsing, purring trill when agitated.


References


External links


Call recordings on Xeno-Canto

Images and videos
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2667966
Abbott's babbler Abbott's babbler (''Malacocincla abbotti'') is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is widely distributed along the Himalayas in South Asia and extending into the forests of Southeast Asia. They are short-tailed and stout birds which ...
Birds of Nepal Birds of East India Birds of Northeast India Birds of Southeast Asia
Abbott's babbler Abbott's babbler (''Malacocincla abbotti'') is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is widely distributed along the Himalayas in South Asia and extending into the forests of Southeast Asia. They are short-tailed and stout birds which ...
Abbott's babbler Abbott's babbler (''Malacocincla abbotti'') is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is widely distributed along the Himalayas in South Asia and extending into the forests of Southeast Asia. They are short-tailed and stout birds which ...
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot