White-crowned shama

The white-crowned shama (Copsychus stricklandii) is a bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is endemic to the Southeast Asian island of Borneo.[1]

White-crowned shama
In Sabah, Malaysia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Copsychus
Species:
C. stricklandii
Binomial name
Copsychus stricklandii
Motley & Dillwyn, 1855
Subspecies
  • Copsychus malabaricus stricklandii
  • Copsychus malabaricus barbouri

Taxonomy

It is closely related to the white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus), and is sometimes considered a subspecies of that species.[2] In turn, the white-crowned shama has two subspecies:[3]

  • C. s. stricklandii Motley & Dillwyn, 1855 – north and north-eastern Borneo, including Banggi Island
  • C. s. barbouri (Bangs & Peters, 1927[4]) (Maratua Shama) – Maratua Islands

The specific name was bestowed in honour of Hugh Edwin Strickland[5]

Description

The white-crowned shama is about 21–28 cm (8.3–11.0 in) in length (including a 7 cm (2.8 in) tail in adult males) and 31–42 g (1.1–1.5 oz) in weight. Mainly blue-black upperparts contrast with orange-rufous underparts. It has a white rump and black throat. It is largely similar in appearance to the white-rumped shama subspecies C. m. suavis, which replaces it in southern and western Borneo, and hybridises with it where the ranges meet.[6] It differs in having a white, rather than black, crown. The distinctive Maratua form C. s. barbouri is about 20% longer than the nominate, and has an all-black tail, rather than white outer rectrices.[1]

Aviculture

White-crowned shamas are bred by local aviculturists in Borneo as cage-birds valued for their singing ability. They continue to be trapped as it is believed that wild-caught young birds are stronger, and better songsters, than those bred in captivity.[1]

References
  1. Phillipps, Quentin; Phillipps, Karen (2011). Phillipps' Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo. Oxford, UK: John Beaufoy Publishing. ISBN 978-1-906780-56-2.
  2. "White-rumped Shama". Species factsheet. BirdLife International. 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  3. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2013). "IOC World Bird List (v 5.3): Chats, Old World flycatchers". IOC. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  4. Bangs & Peters, pp.239-240 in Birds from Maratua Island, off the east coast of Borneo, Occasional papers of the Boston Society of Natural History, v5 (1927)
  5. "Three Men and a Bird". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.86, Part 1, pp.113-119 (June 2013).
  6. "White-rumped Shama". HBW Alive. Lynx Editions. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
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