A New Bird Record in China: Rufous-vented Laughingthrush Garrulax gularis

The Rufous-vented Laughingthrush Garrulax gularis, though considered to be distributed in the SE of Tibet, China, is yet no evidence of its occurrence confirmed at any sure locality until so far. During our field investigation in March 2007 on the birds around Simao (now the Pu'er City) of S Yunnan, we learned that the Rufous-vented Laughingthrush might be present in Jiangcheng county. In mid-May, we found the bird in the wild, a small flock of approximately ten individuals, at an altitude of 1 100 m by a village near Zhengdong in the SW of Jiangcheng county approximately 50 km from the Laos-China border. Further investigations revealed that the Rufous-vented Laughingthrush its was present in the south of Jiangcheng county, usually in flocks in dense secondary forests and shrubs at altitudes lower than 1 300 m. This is the first formal record of the occurrence of the Rufous-vented Laughingthrush in China.