Animalia Life
Copsychus saularis
TAXONOMY
Copsychus saularis Linnaeus, 1758, Bengal.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Asian magpie-robin, Oriental magpie-robin; French:
Shama dayal; German: Dajal; Spanish: Robнn la Gazza.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
9 in (23 cm); male 1.1–1.5 oz (31–42 g); female 1.1–1.4 oz
(32–40 g). In males, upperparts, head, and breast are black; underparts
are white; the tail is black with white outer feathers;
the wings have white bars. In females, upperparts, head and
breast are dull dark gray. Juveniles resemble adults but have
mottled brown breasts.
DISTRIBUTION
Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indochina, Andaman
Islands, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
HABITAT
Gardens, woodland edge, and forest clearings, open
broadleaved forest.
BEHAVIOR
Pairs or family groups, lively and easily visible, feeds on
ground, perches on branches, high wires, poles.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Large insects taken from ground, spiders, centipedes, earthworms,
small lizards, seeds, and nectar.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeds February–August, untidy grassy nest in hole in tree,
bank, or wall; four to five eggs, incubation 12–13 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.