Laughingthrushes | Leiothrichidae

Lachvogels | Charlatanes

Medium-sized songbirds of the dense understorey of Asian woodland, with strong legs, short rounded wings and a long graduated tail: birds that clamber and hop more than they fly. The bill is stout and slightly decurved, serving equally for insects and for fruit, both taken on the ground and in thickets. They live in noisy parties for most of the year, preen one another about the head and help at each other's nests; the voice is a sustained chattering and cackling that in many species runs into a communal chorus — the sound that gave the laughingthrushes their name. Plain brown species stand beside boldly patterned heads and wings. The nest is a sturdy cup low in a bush.