Brown parrotbill

Brown parrotbill
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sylviidae
Genus: Cholornis
Species: C. unicolor
Binomial name
Cholornis unicolor
(Hodgson, 1843)
Synonyms

Paradoxornis unicolor

The brown parrotbill (Cholornis unicolor) is a parrotbill found in the central and eastern Himalayas. It has earlier been called a brown suthora.

Illustration by John Gould

This is a 17-19 cm long grey brown bird with a long tail and a characteristic small yellowish parrot-like bill. A dark stripe runs above the eyes and along the sides of the crown. They move in small groups and will sometimes join mixed species foraging flocks.[1] It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Nepal.

Originally described by Brian Houghton Hodgson in the genus Hemirhynchus this species was later included in the genus Heteromorpha.[2] They are now usually treated as members of the family Paradoxornithidae within which its closes relative is the three-toed parrotbill.[3] Subspecies canaster described by Thayer and Bangs in 1912 from Hsikang and saturatior described by Rothschild in 1921 froom Yunnan are generally not considered valid.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Rasmussen, PC & JC Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2. Washington DC and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institutio and Lynx Edicions. p. 462.
  2. ↑ Penhallurick J and C Robson (2009). "The generic taxonomy of parrotbills (Aves, Timaliidae)". Forktail 25: 137–141.
  3. ↑ Yeung, CKL; Rong-Chien Lina; Fumin Lei; Le Man Hung; Wei Liang; F Zhou; L. Hang; S-H Lia; X Yang (2011). "Beyond a morphological paradox: Complicated phylogenetic relationships of the parrotbills (Paradoxornithidae, Aves)" 61 (1). pp. 192–202. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.004.
  4. ↑ Deignan HG; RA Paynter, Jr.; S D Ripley (1964). Mayr, E & Paynter, R A., Jr., ed. Check-List of Birds of the World. Volume 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 432.