COVER STORY: SOFTBILLS
THE name “laughingthrush” (or ”jay-thrush”) aptly describes these extrovert and highly vocal birds. Birdsong is usually predictable, but laughingthrushes of both sexes produce an explosive variety of rich, liquid warbles and whoops especially when duetting or group calling - on the slightest pretext. Sometimes it seems just so that they can keep in practice. Some birdkeepers have even been known to rehome them because they, or their neighbours, couldn't tolerate the impromptu choral rehearsals.
Except to birders and aviculturists, and in Asia where the keeping of caged laughingthrushes is traditional, these birds are relatively unknown, Laughingthrushes vary a great deal in plumage and size, even within a genus. The best known is the iconic white-crested laughingthrush (), which is very similar to the endangered and lesser-known Sumatran laughingthrush (), No other laughingthrushes are crested or
