The croaking cisticola (''Cisticola natalensis'') is an

Old World warbler Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the ci ...

in the family

Cisticolidae The family Cisticolidae is a group of about 160 warblers, small passerine birds found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They were formerly included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae. This family probably originated ...

. It is a resident breeder in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

south of the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. The croaking cisticola is an insectivorous

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

that is found in rank grassland habitats, often near swamps or water. Male cisticolas are polygamous; the female builds a discreet nest deep in the grasses, often binding living leaves into the soft fabric of

felted A felted material is a hairy or filamentous (hairy-like) fibre that is densely packed or tangled, forming felt or felt-like structures. Anatomy and zoology The dermis is described in Gray's Anatomy as "felted connective tissue, with a va ...

plant-down, cobwebs, and grass. The croaking cisticola's nest is a ball shape with a side entrance; 2-4 eggs are laid. This is the largest cisticola. This warbler is grey-brown above, heavily streaked with black. The underparts are whitish, and the tail is broad, pale-tipped and flicked frequently. It has a chestnut wing-panel and a heavy bill. It is very similar to other members of its genus. It is best distinguished from its many African relatives by its size and froglike croaking ''breep-breep'' song. The song is always the easiest identification criterion for this genus. These birds are more easily heard than seen, and because of their small size (about ) not always easy to recognise, particularly outside the breeding season when they seldom emerge from their grasses.

References

* ''Birds of The Gambia'' by Barlow, Wacher and Disley,

External links

* Croaking cisticola
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
Cisticolidae Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Birds described in 1843 {{cisticolidae-stub