Cossypha


Cossypha are small insectivorous birds, with most species called robin-chats. They were formerly in the thrush family Turdidae, but are now more often treated as part of the Old World flycatcher Muscicapidae.
These are African woodland dwelling species, but some have become adapted to sites around human habitation.
The name Cossypha for the genus was introduced by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825. The word comes from the Classical Greek kossuphos for a blackbird or thrush.
The genus contains the following eight species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
White-crowned robin-chatCossypha albicapillusSudanian savanna
White-browed robin-chatCossypha heugliniSub-Saharan Africa
Chorister robin-chatCossypha dichroaeastern southern Africa
Rüppell's robin-chatCossypha semirufaeastern Afromontane
Snowy-crowned robin-chatCossypha niveicapillanorthern Sub-Saharan Africa
Red-capped robin-chatCossypha natalensiscentral and eastern Sub-Saharan Africa
-White-headed robin-chatCossypha heinrichinorthern Angola and western DR Congo
-Blue-shouldered robin-chatCossypha cyanocampterAfrican tropical rainforest