Black Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas podobe) [XC398745]
by Bram Piot from Foret de Bokhol, Dagana, Senegal (song)
Black Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas podobe) [XC178026]
by Bram Piot from Les Trois Marigots, Saint-Louis, Senegal (song)
Subspecies
Differs from Erythropygia in generally larger size and distinctively black plumage. Subspecies melanoptera apparently intergrades with nominate in western Arabia, where sample of museum skins revealed 25% showing traces of rufous in wing.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
podobe (Müller, 1776) - Southern Mauritania and northern Senegal east to north-eastern Sudan, northern Ethiopia and western Arabia. Non-breeding also northern Somalia.
melanoptera (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) - Western, central and southern Arabian Peninsula.