Wailing Cisticola (Cisticola lais) [XC858866]
by Tim Cockcroft from Minunu Hut, Mt. Mulanje, Southern Region, Malawi (call)
Wailing Cisticola (Cisticola lais) [XC761907]
by Dries Van de Loock from Bo-Rhebokvlei, Haernersburg, Limpopo, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
Wailing Cisticola (Cisticola lais) and Lynes's Cisticola (Cisticola distinctus) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Cisticola lais following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993).
Subspecies distinctus sometimes treated as a separate species, but is vocally identical to other subspecies of present species. Inclusion of populations from north-eastern South Africa in subspecies mashona requires further investigation. Birds from Chimanimani Mts, in eastern Zimbabwe, probably represent a local variant of latter subspecies, although superficially similar to oreobates.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
namba Lynes, 1931 - Western Angola.
distinctus Lynes, 1930 - Uganda, Kenya. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Lynes's Cisticola (Cisticola distinctus).