The grey trembler (''Cinclocerthia gutturalis'') is a

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Mimidae, the mockingbirds and thrashers. It is found only on

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

and

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

of the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey trembler was formerly thought to be

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the brown trembler (''Cinclocerthia ruficauda''), the only other member of its genus. It has two subspecies, the nominate ''C. g. gutturalis'' and ''C. g. macrorhyncha''.

The "Mascarene starling"

In 1898 a unique skin (accession number D1792 (S)) was discovered in the

World Museum Liverpool World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...

. This specimen was obtained by

Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (21 April 1775 – 30 June 1851), styled Lord Stanley from 1776 to 1832, and Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe from 1832–4, was an English politician, peer, landowner, builder, farmer, art collector and na ...

from bird collector

Jules Verreaux Jules Pierre Verreaux (24 August 1807 – 7 September 1873) was a French botanist and ornithologist and a professional collector of and trader in natural history specimens. He was the brother of Édouard Verreaux and nephew of Pierre Antoine Delal ...

in 1850 and was on display in the Liverpool Museum since then. It was believed to be an extinct

starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, know ...

from

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, or the Mascarenes, described by Henry Ogg Forbes under the name ''Necropsar leguati'' and sketched by bird illustrator

John Gerrard Keulemans Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (8 June 1842 – 29 March 1912) was a Dutch bird illustrator. For most of his life he lived and worked in England, illustrating many of the best-known ornithology books of the nineteenth century. Biography Keulemans ...

. It was thought to be a close relative of the Rodrigues starling. A vernacular name for this supposed species was "white Mascarene starling". However, in April 2000 analysis of DNA from that specimen by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

showed that it was actually a misidentified and mislabeled albinistic example of ''C. g. gutturalis''.

Description

The grey trembler is long and weighs . The species has a long, slightly downcurved bill, the female's longer than the male's. Adults of the nominate subspecies have warm gray-brown upperparts with a somewhat darker face and wings. The throat and the middle of the breast and abdomen are buffy white. The sides of the breast are a lighter gray brown and the flanks browner with an olive tinge. Juveniles are browner and have a mottled chest. ''C. g. macrorhyncha'' has a grayer buffy breast and pale cinnamon flanks.

Distribution and habitat

''C. g. gutturalis'' is found only on Martinique and ''C. g. macrorhyncha'' on Saint Lucia. Both mostly inhabit wet mature forests but are also found in dryer scrub and open woodland.

Behavior

Tremblers derive their name from a typical behavior "in which the wings both are drooped and angled slightly away from the body...making very rapid vertical and lateral motions.

Feeding

The grey trembler forages from the ground to the forest canopy, tearing open tangles and probing

epiphyte An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

clusters. Its diet has not been studied in detail but includes insects and other invertebrates, fruits, and occasionally small lizards.

Breeding

The grey trembler breeds in March and April. Two types of nest have been described, an open cup made from thin twigs and dead leaves, and a dome made of dried grass. The clutch size is two or three.

Vocalization

The grey trembler's song is " peated notes and phrases, harsh to melodic, quavering whistles".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the grey trembler as being of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

. Though it is found only on two islands, it is fairly common on both. No threats are known "other than those implicit in its very restricted geographical range."