Dark-fronted Babbler

The dark-fronted babbler is an Old World babbler found in the Western Ghats of India and the forests of Sri Lanka. It is small, 13 cm including its square-tipped tail, brown above and white below, with a pale yellow iris. The two Indian subspecies have black hoods, while the two Sri Lankan races have this reduced to a dark bandit mask (Wikipedia, general species account).

It forages in flocks in forest undergrowth, constantly calling and giving alarm calls when disturbed. Subspecies siccata is listed for north and east Sri Lanka and nigrifrons for southwest Sri Lanka. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012, listed as Rhopocichla atriceps).