| Tchagra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Brown-crowned (above) and Black-crowned tchagra (below) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Malaconotidae |
| Genus: | Tchagra Lesson, 1831 |
| Type species | |
| Thamnophilus tchagra[1] Vieillot, 1816 | |
| Species | |
See text | |
Thetchagras arepasserinebirds in thebushshrike family, which are closely related to the trueshrikes in the family Laniidae, and were once included in that group.
These are long-tailed birds, typically with a grey or grey-brown back, brown wings and grey and whitish underparts. The head pattern is distinctive, with a dark cap and black eyestripe separated by a whitesupercilium. The bill is strong and hooked.
The male and female are similar in plumage in all tchagra species, but distinguishable from immature birds.
These are solitary birds which tend toskulk low down or on the ground. They have distinctive whistled calls and can be readily tempted into sight by imitating the call, presumably because the tchagra is concerned that there is an intruder in its territory.
These are species typically of scrub, open woodland, semi-desert and cultivation in sub-SaharanAfrica. They hunt largeinsects from a low perch in a bush, and the larger species likeblack-crowned tchagra will also takevertebrate prey such as frogs and snakes.
The genusTchagra was introduced by the French naturalistRené Lesson in 1831 with thesouthern tchagra as thetype species.[2] The genus contains four species:[3]
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Tchagra australis | Brown-crowned tchagra or brown-headed tchagra | Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |
 | Tchagra jamesi | Three-streaked tchagra | Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda |
 | Tchagra tchagra | Southern tchagra | southern and south-eastern South Africa and Swaziland. |
 | Tchagra senegalus | Black-crowned tchagra | Arabian peninsula and most of Africa in scrub |
Themarsh tchagraBocagia minuta is sometimes placed in the genus. The darkAngolan subspecies of marsh tchagra was formerly sometimes split as Anchieta's tchagra,Tchagra anchietae, named afterPortuguese explorerJosé Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta by his zoologist compatriotJosé Vicente Barbosa du Bocage in 1869.
