Afghanistan (B), Albania (B), Algeria, Armenia (B), Azerbaijan (B), Bahrain (B) (P), Bosnia and Herzegovina (B), Bulgaria (B), Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia (B), Gibraltar, Greece (B), India, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B), Iraq (B), Israel (B), Italy, Jordan (B) (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon (B), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B), Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Montenegro (B), Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Oman (B), Pakistan (B), Portugal (B), Qatar, Saudi Arabia (B), Senegal, Serbia (B), Somalia, Spain (B), Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic (B), Tajikistan (B), Tunisia, Turkey (B), Turkmenistan (B), United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan (B), Western Sahara (B), Yemen.
Vagrant to China (mainland), Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], France, Gambia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Malawi, Norway, Romania, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
Population
Estimated population is 200,000 - 1,200,000 (2010).
Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas) [XC644016]
by Cedric Mroczko from Local Ribeira de Maria Delgada, Castro Verde, Beja, Saudi Arabia (song)
Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas) [XC480616]
by Fernando del Valle from Bajo Guadalquivir (near Utrera), Sevilla, Andaluc\u00eda, Greece (song)
Subspecies
Genus often merged into Cercotrichas. Paler and greyer birds from Transcaspia described as subspecies deserticola; subsumed in familiaris, but possibly merits recognition.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
galactotes (Temminck, 1820) - Southern and eastern Iberia (possibly also southern France), northern Africa (south to southern Algeria), Israel and south-western Syria. Non-breeding Sahel zone of western Africa.
syriaca (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) - Balkans east to western and southern Turkey, western Syria and Lebanon. Non-breeding north-eastern and eastern Africa.
familiaris (Ménétries, 1832) - Transcaucasia, south-eastern Turkey, Iraq and north-eastern and eastern Arabia east to southern Kazakhstan, eastern Iran, eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Non-breeding north-eastern Africa.
minor (Cabanis, 1850) - Senegal and Gambia east to northern Somalia. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of African Scrub-Robin (Cercotrichas minor).
hamertoni (Ogilvie-Grant, 1906) - Eastern Somalia. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of African Scrub-Robin (Cercotrichas minor).