Cisticolas and Allies (Cisticolidae)

Wailing Cisticola (Cisticola lais) - HBW 11, p. 448

French: Cisticole plaintive German: Trauerzistensänger Spanish: Cistícola Plañidero
Other common names: Lynes’s/Kedong Cisticola (distinctus)

Taxonomy: Drymoica lais Hartlaub and Finsch, 1870, Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Race distinctus sometimes treated as a separate species, but is vocally identical to other races of present species. Inclusion of populations from NE South Africa in race mashona requires further investigation; birds from Chimanimani Mts, in E Zimbabwe, probably represent a local variant of latter race, although superficially similar to oreobates. Eight subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution: