Forest batis

Forest Batis
Male Forest Batis
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Platysteiridae
Genus:	Batis
Species:	B. mixta
Binomial name
Batis mixta (Shelley, 1889)

The Forest Batis or Short-tailed Batis (Batis mixta) is a species of bird in the wattle-eye family, Platysteiridae. It is found in tropical moist forests in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. It mainly occurs in montane forest but in south-east Kenya it is found in lowland forest near the coast.

The Dark Batis (B. crypta) of south-west Tanzania and northern Malawi was formerly included in this species but was described a new separate species in 2006. Reichenow's Batis (B. reichenowi) of coastal south-east Tanzania is often treated as a subspecies of the Cape Batis (B. capensis) or as a species in its own right but may be a subspecies of the Forest Batis.

References

• BirdLife International 2004. Batis mixta. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 25 July 2007.
• Fjeldså, Jon; Bowie, Rauri C. K. & Kiure, Jacob (2006) The forest batis, Batis mixta, is two species: description of a new, narrowly distributed Batis species in the Eastern Arc biodiversity hotspot., Journal of Ornithology, 147 (4): 578-590.