Tawny-bellied babbler

Tawny-bellied babbler
D. hyperythra hyperythra from Satpura National Park
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Timaliidae
Genus: Dumetia
Species:
D. hyperythra
Binomial name
Dumetia hyperythra
(Franklin, 1831)
Synonyms
  • Malacocercus albogularis Blyth. 1847
  • Timalia hyperythra Franklin, 1831

The tawny-bellied babbler (Dumetia hyperythra) also known in older Indian works as the rufous-bellied babbler is a small babbler that forages in small groups in low scrub forests. Like other members of the large Old World babbler family they are passerine birds characterised by soft fluffy plumage. There are three subspecies within the Indian Subcontinent. The nominate hyperythra found in northern and eastern India is uniformly brown underneath while albogularis of the western Indian peninsula is white throated. The population in Sri Lanka, phillipsi, is also white throated but is paler underneath and has a larger bill.