The Black-browed Fulvetta, Alcippe grotei, is a 15.5 to 16.5 cm long species of passerine

Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the Old World babbler

Old World babbler

The Old World babblers or timaliids are a large family of mostly Old World passerine birds. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent...

 family. It is found in
subtropical or tropical moist montane

Montane

In biogeography, montane is the highland area located below the subalpine zone. Montane regions generally have cooler temperatures and often have higher rainfall than the adjacent lowland regions, and are frequently home to distinct communities of plants and animals.The term "montane" means "of the...

 evergreen forests, adjacent secondary growth and bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 in Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

, Malaysia, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, and Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

.

It is often considered conspecific with the Mountain Fulvetta

Mountain Fulvetta

The Mountain Fulvetta is a 14 to 15.5 cm long species of bird in the Old World babbler family. It is found in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam in subtropical or tropical moist montane forests....

, Alcippe peracensis, but the two forms differ in morphology and vocalisations, and are separated altitudinally. Black-browed Fulvetta occurs primarily below 400 m, and Mountain Fulvetta above 900 m.

Both have a warm brown back and tail, whitish underparts, a grey face and a slate grey crown edged below with a black line. Black-browed has brown flanks and a weaker white eyering; it has been described as a bit like a cross between Mountain and Grey-cheeked Fulvetta

Grey-cheeked Fulvetta

The Grey-cheeked Fulvetta is a species of bird in the Old World babbler family.It is found in China, Laos, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam in evergreen mountain forests....

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Black-browed has a song yu-chi-chiwi-chuwoo, yu-uwit-ii-uwoo, whereas Mountain is yi-yuii-uwee-uwee.