So what is the 'Chinese Warbling Wren' of Hilo really??

99-01-20, russeff at whidbey.com writes:
<< She also has as a regular visitor what the locals call a Chinese
Warbling Wren. Many years ago Chinese workers brought these companion
birds with them as they moved to the Islands, and some now live "wild"
there (this according to local legend). I couldn't find a photo of this
bird (under this name) - does anyone have any guesses? >>

99-01-20, I suggested ('guessed') Melodious Laughing-Thrush (Garrulax
canorus), a Chinese cage bird which was apparently first introduced (i.e.
'escaped') around 1900.

99-01-20, MBlanchard writes:
<< Pekin robin, perhaps...a common cage bird that you can buy in pet shops
even in Germany. I tried to buy a pair here,,no one has ever heard of them.
Lovely song...and successfully bred in captivity. >>

99-01-20, Gene Kridler writes:
<< Richard; I figured it was the Leiothrix (Peking Nightingale) being as how
the
report was from Hilo. Lots of them on the Big Island. Don't recall seeing the
Melodious Laughing Thrush there although it is supposed to be there. On Oahu
and
Kauai - it could have been them. Both have melodious songs. >>

Perhaps. I don't know but whatever, unless one decides to board the
'Pineapple Express', I won't hold my breath for one to turn up around
tweeterland any time soon. Pekin Robin is also called Pekin Nightingale and
Japanese Hill Robin and just plain ol' Hill Robin. OFFICIALLY, in Hawaii and
as listed in Monroe & Sibley, and King el.al., this bird is called the Red-
billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea). I haven't a clue why the alternative name
'Japanese' Hill Robin is even listed. The Leiothrix is native to the Himalyas
and apparently as best as I can determine not present in Japan even as an
escaped exotic although I wouldn't be surprised if it weren't (an uncommon)
cage bird in which case there might be a few liberated birds wandering around
on occasion.

Neither the Red-billed Leiothrix and Melodius Laughing-thrush are
taxonomically related to anything we might think of as a 'wren' (Certhidae,
Troglodytinae). Both belong to the family Timaliidae (Babblers according to
King et.al 1975, Birds of Southeast Asia) or the family Sylviidae (Monroe and
Sibley 1993. A World Checklist of Birds). Both are birds of the underbrush,
skulkers, and quite the songsters both in Hawaii and their native haunts of SE
Asia, hence might be locally referred to as the 'Chinese Warbling Wren'. I
would tend to suspect that the Melodius Laughing-thrush would be more likely
contender with it's more drab plumage and suggestive tendancy to 'look'
somewhat like a wren (see photos of singing birds in the two pocket-sized
Hawaii bird guides -- p35 and p82 respecively) than the much more striking and
colorful Red-billed Leiothrix which doesn't look at all like a wren.

I know, I know -- way far more than anyone in tweeterland ever really wanted
to know about a couple of 'exotic' birds in sun-drenched balmy Hawaii, but
hey, it's been raining here non-stop for going on three weeks so what else is
one to do. Uh oh, I feel a tan coming on. :-))

Richard Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA, USA)