Prinia

Prinia
Bar-winged prinia (Prinia familiaris)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cisticolidae
Genus: Prinia
Horsfield, 1821
Type species
Prinia familiaris[1]
Horsfield, 1821
Species

See text

Ashy prinia (Prinia socialis) in Hyderabad, India
Plain prinia (Prinia inornata) in Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Grey-breasted prinia (Prinia hodgsonii) in Shamirpet, Rangareddy district, Andhra Pradesh, India

Prinia is a genus of small insectivorous birds belonging to the passerine bird family Cisticolidae. They were at one time classed in the Old World warbler family, Sylviidae.

The prinias are sometimes referred to as wren-warblers. They are a little-known group of the tropical and subtropical Old World, the roughly thirty species being divided fairly equally between Africa and Asia.

These are birds mainly of open habitats such as long grass or scrub, in which they are not easily seen. They are mainly resident, migration being limited to local cold weather movements. Non-breeding birds may form small flocks.

Prinias have short wings but long tapering tails. They are fairly drab birds, brown or grey above (sometimes with dark streaks) and whitish below. Some species have different breeding and non-breeding plumages. The bill is a typical insectivore's, thin and slightly curved.

  1. ^ "Cisticolidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-15.