The brown prinia (''Prinia polychroa'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

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 ...

. The Burmese prinia (''P. cooki'') and the Annam prinia (''P. rocki'') were formerly lumped with this species. It is found in mainland

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, namely in most of

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, and

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, as well as on the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n island of

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

subtropical or tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

. Populations in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, far western Thailand, far western Laos, and southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

are now considered to belong to ''P. cooki'', while populations in the

Đà Lạt Plateau The Lâm Viên Plateau (also called Đà Lạt Plateau, Lang Biang Plateau) is a plateau in southeastern Vietnam. At its centre is the city of Da Lat. Several mountains in this area rise to over , the highest being (Rade language, Ede: ; ) at . ...

and far eastern Cambodia are now considered to belong ''P. rocki''. There are two recognised subspecies: ''P. p. deignani'', which is found in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, and ''P. p. polychroa'', which is restricted to Java. ''P. p. deignani'' was formerly considered an eastern population of ''P. p. cooki'' (when it was considered a subspecies) until the 2019 study, which split the Burmese and south Chinese populations as ''P. cooki'' while reclassifying the Thai, Laotian, and Cambodian populations into a new subspecies, ''P. p. deignani''. ''P. crinigera bangsi'', now considered a subspecies of the

Himalayan prinia The Himalayan prinia (''Prinia crinigera'') is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It was formerly lumped in with the striped prinia (''P. striata'') as the striated prinia. It is found in the Indian Subcontinent and parts of China, w ...

(''P. crinigera''), was also formerly considered another south Chinese subspecies of ''P. polychroa'' (''P. p. bangsi'') until the 2019 study. It was named after the American ornithologist

Herbert Girton Deignan Herbert Girton Deignan (December 5, 1906 – March 15, 1968) was an American ornithologist who worked extensively on the birds of Thailand. Deignan was born in New Jersey, the son of Harry Francis and Anna Galena. He grew up in Pennsylvania and s ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q73703 Brown prinia Birds of Southeast Asia Brown prinia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot