The red-tailed bristlebill (''Bleda syndactylus'') or common bristlebill, is a species of

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 ...

in the

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropic ...

family, Pycnonotidae. It is widely present throughout the African tropical rainforest. It prefers

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

over

secondary forests A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused disturbances, such as timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or equivalently disruptive natura ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The red-tailed bristlebill was originally described in the genus ''Dasycephala'' (a synonym for ''

Attila Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central Europe, C ...

'').

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized: * Gabon bristlebill (''B. s. syndactylus'') - ( Swainson, 1837): Found from Sierra Leone to western Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Angola * Uganda bristlebill (''B. s. woosnami'') - Ogilvie-Grant, 1907: Also named Bocage's bristlebill. Found from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to southern Sudan, western Kenya, north-western Zambia

Diet

It is an ant follower.

References

Bleda (bird) Birds of the African tropical rainforest Birds described in 1837 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by William Swainson {{Pycnonotidae-stub