Graceful Prinia

The graceful prinia, in some older works the graceful warbler, is a small warbler 10–11 cm long with short rounded wings and a long tapering tail, each feather tipped with black and white. In breeding plumage adults are grey-brown above with dark streaking, with whitish underparts, buff flanks and a short black bill; in winter they are brighter sandy brown above with weaker streaking, more buff on the sides and a paler bill. The long tail is often cocked, and the flight is weak (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a resident breeder in north-eastern Africa, particularly the Nile valley, and southern Asia from Egypt and Somalia east to Saudi Arabia, where it is sometimes called the streaked wren-warbler. It builds its nest in a bush or grass and lays three to five eggs. The call is a rolling trilled breep and the song a hard rolling repetition of zerlip (Wikipedia, general species account).