Cisticolas | Cisticolidae

Graszangers | Buitrones

Small warblers of grass, marsh and low scrub, mostly warm brown and streaked above, with short rounded wings and a graduated tail that is often held cocked and is shorter in breeding plumage than in winter. The nest is the family's signature: living grass blades or leaves stitched together with spider silk and caterpillar silk into a hidden purse that keeps growing with the plant holding it. The song is simple and endlessly repeated, usually delivered in a bounding display flight over the territory, since such ground offers no song post. The family is centred on Africa; only a single species reaches the Mediterranean coast and beyond.