Tarsiger


Tarsiger is a genus of six species of birds in the family Muscicapidae. They are small, mostly brightly coloured insectivorous birds native to Asia and northeastern Europe; four of the six species are confined to the Sino-Himalayan mountain system. The genus has sometimes been included within the related genus Luscinia, but the species have been found to form a distinct monophyletic group.
The genus name Tarsiger is from Ancient Greek tarsos, "flat of the foot" and Latin gerere, "to carry".
The genus contains the following species:
Until recently, the Himalayan bluetail was treated as a subspecies of the red-flanked bluetail. It was split on the basis of its more intense plumage colours, and its ecology and behaviour, being a short-distance altitudinal migrant not a long distance migrant.