Sooty Babbler

SCI Name:  Stachyris herberti
Protonym:  Nigravis herberti Bull.Br.Orn.Club 41 p.10
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Timaliidae / Stachyris
Taxonomy Code:  soobab1
Type Locality:  'Ban Sao, Siam,'' error [= Ban Lak Sao (lat. 18° 11'' N., long. 104° 58'' E.), Laos].
Author:  Baker, ECS
Publish Year:  1920
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

STACHYRIS
(Timaliidae; Ϯ Grey-throated Babbler S. nigriceps) Gr. στραχυ strakhu  rough, distort  < τραχυς trakhus  rough, jagged; ῥις rhis, ῥινος rhinos nostrils; "Timaliæ  ...  Stachyris, Hodgson.  ...  1. St. nigriceps, Hodgson.  ...  2. St. pyrrhops, Hodgson.  ...  3. St. chrysæa, Hodgson.  ...  Mr. Hodgson sends the following diagnostics  ...  "Stachyris, Mihi. (Certhianæ? Leiotrichanæ? Parianæ? [I do not hesitate to place it as above.—E. B.]  Bill equal to head, very strong, pointed, and trenchant; tips equal and entire; its form conico-compressed and higher than broad, with culmen raised between prolonged nareal fossæ.  Nares basal, lateral, with ovoid posteal aperture, the front being closed by the very salient rude scale above.  Gape smooth.  Frontlet rigid.  Tongue cartilaginous, bifid, simple.  Legs and feet very strong, suited to creeping and climbing in inverted strained positions.  Tarse very stout, longer than any toe or nail.  Toes short, unequal, depressed, basally connected, the hind stoutest and exceeding the inner fore.  Nails very falcate and acute.  Wings short, feeble, the first four primaries much graduated, the four next subequal.  Tail medial, simple, firm.   Type St. nigriceps.  Sylvan, shy; creeps among foliage, buds and flowers, like Zosterops and Orthotomus; feeds on minute hard insects and their eggs and larvæ." (Hodgson 1844).
Var. Stachyrhis, Strachyrhis, Strachyris.
Synon. Cilathora, Heterorhynchus, Nigravis, Sphenocichla, Stachyrirhynchus, Thringorhina.

herberti / herbertii
● Edward Grevile Herbert (1870-1951) British businessman with Bombay-Burmah Trading Corporation, naturalist, collector (subsp. Alauda gulgula, syn. Napothera brevicaudata leucosticta, subsp. Prinia inornata, Stachyris).
● Sir Thomas Herbert, Bart. (1606-1682) English traveller and author (syn. Aphanapteryx bonasia).
● Herbert Alexander (1874-1946) English artist, author, brother of explorer Capt. Boyd Alexander (subsp. Campethera nivosa, Phylloscopus, syn. Ploceus preussi).
● Herbert Girton Deignan (1906-1968) US ornithologist (subsp. Harpactes ardens).
● Herbert Ashley Riker (d. 1937) US rubber-plantation owner in Brazil 1867-1937, naturalist (subsp. Pheugopedius coraya).