Long-tailed Tits (Aegithalidae)

Crested Tit-warbler (Leptopoecile elegans) - HBW 13, p. 100

French: Mésange mitrée German: Schopfhähnchen Spanish: Carbonerito Elegante

Taxonomy: Leptopoecile elegans Przevalski, 1887, upper Huang Ho, south-east Qinghai, China.
Relationships of genus uncertain; formerly placed in family Sylviidae, and recent studies based on mitochondrial DNA indicate that it groups with members of present family within a sylvioid assemblage that includes tits and chickadees (Paridae). Further research required. Birds from Malashi country, S of Litang (SE Xizang-W Sichuan), described as race meissneri, but probably inseparable from those elsewhere in species’ range. Treated as monotypic.

Distribution: C & E Qinghai, S Nei Mongol (Alashan and Helan Shan), Ningxia (Helan Shan) and S Gansu (S Qilian Shan) S to SE Xizang and W & C Sichuan, in C China.