Gerygones are insectivores which obtain most of their food by gleaning and snatching in the foliage of trees and bushes. They are small, mostly weighing an average of 6–7 g, and show little variation in size across their range, except for the insular Chatham gerygone, which is nearly twice as large as the rest of the genus.
Their songs are described as "simple but delightful", many descending in pitch, and some species are excellent mimics. "Gerygone" means "born of sound" (Magrath 2003).
In 1838 the English ornithologist John Gould introduced the genus Psilopus in which he placed four species. He specified the type speciesasPsilopus albogularis. This is now considered to be a junior synonymofGerygone olivacea, the white-throated gerygone, as Gerygone olivacea was listed earlier on the page in Gould's work.[2][3][4] In 1841, Gould, in a list of birds found on the western coast of Australia, added a note in which he replaced the name Psilopus with the name GerygoneasPsilopus had been previously employed in entomologybyJohann Wilhelm Meigen.[5][6] The genus name Gerygone is from Ancient Greekgērugonos meaning "echoes".[7]
The genus contains 20 species including one which is now extinct:[8]
^Gould, John (1841). "A list of birds of the western coast". In Grey, George (ed.). Journals of two expeditions of discovery in north-west and western Australia, during the years 1837, 38, and 39, under the authority of her Majesty's Government, describing many newly discovered, important and fertile districts : with observations on the moral and physical condition of the aboriginal inhabitants. Vol. 2. London: T. & W. Boone. pp. 415–421 [417].
Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. ISBN978-84-96553-42-2
Keast, A. & Recher, H. (1997) "The adaptive zone of the genus Gerygone (Acanthizidae) as shown by morphology and feeding habits." Emu97(1): 1-17
Media related to Gerygone at Wikimedia Commons
