Rufous-breasted accentor

The rufous-breasted accentor (Prunella strophiata) is passerine bird in the family Prunellidae, endemic to the Himalayas, descending in the winter to lower-to-middle altitudes. It is found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Tibet, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.

Rufous-breasted accentor
From Lungthu (~11,000 ft) in Sikkim, India.
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Prunellidae
Genus:	Prunella
Species:	P. strophiata
Binomial name
Prunella strophiata (Blyth, 1843)

Eggs of Prunella strophiata MHNT

Individual in Zuluk Sikkim

Its natural habitat is temperate forest.

Taxonomy

The rufous-breasted accentor was described by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1843 from a specimen collected in Nepal. He coined the binomial name Accentor strophiatus.^[2] The specific epithet strophiatus/strophiata is from Latin strophium "breast-band".^[3] The rufous-breasted accentor is now placed in the genus Prunella that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot in 1816.^[4]

Two subspecies are recognised:^[5]

• P. s. jerdoni (Brooks, WE, 1872) – east Afghanistan and west Himalayas
• P. s. strophiata (Blyth, 1843) – central and east Himalayas to central China and north Myanmar

P. s. strophiata at Helambu, Nepal.