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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 123, No. 1, March 2011 
The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(1): 146-150, 2011 
Breeding Biology of the Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrush 
0 Garrulax sukatschewi) 
Jie Wang , 12 Chen-Xi Jia , 1 Song-Hua Tang , 1 Yun Fang , 1 and Yue-Hua Sun 1,3 
ABSTRACT.—Breeding of the poorly known Snowy¬ 
cheeked Laughingthrush ( Garrulax sukatschewi) was 
studied in a conifer-dominated forest at Lianhuashan 
(southern Gansu), China. Snowy-cheeked Laughing- 
thrushes nested at sites with fewer conifers and denser 
shrubs compared with the available vegetation. Bowl¬ 
shaped nests were 2.4 ± 0.1 m (x ± SE, n = 31) 
above ground in six plant species. Spruce (Picea spp.) 
was used (74%) more often than expected based on 
availability at nest sites. The breeding season (early 
May to mid Jul) was shorter than for other timaliids. 
Twelve of 20 (60%) nests with known outcomes were 
successful. The average clutch size was 3.5 ± 0.2 eggs 
(2-5, n = 21) with 2.7 ± 0.2 hatchlings (2-4, n = 15) 
and 2.2 ± 0.2 fledglings (1-3, n = 12) per nest. 
Incubation was by both males and females and lasted 
14 days (n = 1); both parents cared for the nestlings for 
16-18 days (n = 3). Received 5 April 2010. Accepted 
12 August 2010. 
The Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrush ( Garrulax 
sukatschewi) is largely restricted to a range of 
28,500 km 2 in the Min Shan Mountains of 
southern Gansu and northcentral Sichuan, China 
at elevations of 2,000-3,500 m (Collar et al. 
2001). It is inferred to have a small, declining, 
severely fragmented population because of the 
destruction of temperate forests in its range 
through logging and conversion to agriculture 
(Collar et al. 2001). The species is categorized as 
Vulnerable by the IUCN (2009). 
Understanding a bird’s habitat requirements, 
social behavior, and breeding is essential for 
successful species conservation (Primack 1993). 
Apart from a few distribution records (Collar et al. 
2001) and the description of a few nesting 
attempts (Li 1993, Bi et al. 2003), there is little 
published information on the ecology and conser¬ 
vation status of the Snowy-cheeked Laughing¬ 
thrush. We provide detailed information on the 
1 Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation 
Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of 
Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. 
"Current address: Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese 
Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, Chinar 
Corresponding author; e-mail: sunyh@ioz.ac.cn 
breeding biology of this species with particular 
emphasis on nest-site selection and breeding 
parameters. 
METHODS 
Study Area. —The study was conducted in a 
conifer-dominated forest in the Lianhuashan 
Natural Reserve, southern Gansu (34° 57' N, 
103° 46' E) as described by Sun et al. (2003). The 
forest occurs on north-facing slopes at elevations 
of 2,600-3,300 m; only grasses and shrubs grow 
on south-facing slopes. Coniferous forest, the 
most prevalent cover type (42%) in the study area, 
is dominated by Dragon spruce ( Picea asperata ) 
and Fargese fir (Abies fargesii). The other 
vegetation types are: (1) mixed coniferous-decid¬ 
uous forest, including variable amounts of willow 
(Salix spp.) and birch (Betula utilis and B. albo- 
sinensis ), and (2) shrublands, including willow, 
Sea buckthorn ( Hippophae rhamnoides ), and 
barberry ( Berberis spp.). Deciduous forest is 
uncommon in the area and, where it occurs, is 
adjacent to mixed deciduous-coniferous forest. 
The mean annual temperature at the study area is 
~5.1-6.0 C with a maximum of 34.0° C and 
minimum of —27.1° C. The climate is semiarid, 
and the annual precipitation is ~65 cm. 
Field Procedures. — We located Snowy-cheeked 
Laughingthrushes during four breeding seasons 
(Apr-Jul 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2008) and three 
non-breeding seasons (late Jul-mid Aug and 
Oct-Dec 2006, Sep 2007-Jan 2008) within 
100 m of a 10.3-km long trail system by direct 
observations, and noted flock size and social 
interactions. We also played back calls, i.e., 
“hwii-u, hwii-u” (Collar et al. 2007), of the 
birds and recorded their response. Nests (27 
active and 4 previously used) were located by 
systematically checking individual trees and 
shrubs during the breeding seasons. 
We measured the following variables for each 
nest after termination of nesting similar to the 
method of James and Shugart (1970): altitude, 
distance to forest edge, species and diameter at 
