Voice
Muffled 'tr-r-rrrrrt' and loud plaintive 'hu-weeee', deeper than Wailing Cisticola (Cisticola lais), given from a perch or in the air. A harsher 'chee-chee', call.
Grey-backed Cisticola (Cisticola subruficapilla) [XC521325]
by Lynette Rudman from Aloe Canyons area, Swellendam Local Municipality, Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa (call, song)
Grey-backed Cisticola (Cisticola subruficapilla) [XC683136]
by Lynette Rudman from Makana Local Municipality (near Glen Ambrose), Western District, Eastern Cape, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
Angolan and northern Namibian population is disjunct from the main population of southern Namibia and South Africa. May represent a separate species.
Proposed subspecies euroa (from Free State, in South Africa) synonymized with jamesi.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
newtoni da Rosa Pinto, 1967 - Extreme south-western Angola (Namibe) and north-western Namibia.