The blue-crowned laughingthrush or Courtois's laughingbird (Garrulax courtoisi) is named partially for its distinctive cry - it is a noisy bird with a wide range of songs and chattering noises which often sound like distant human laughter. It is threatened in its native China, because of deforestation and capture by poachers for the exotic bird trade. They are found in only four or five separate population groups in the Jiangxi province. The alternative name commemorates the French missionary Frédéric Courtois – in 1923 Auguste Ménégaux named the Blue-crowned Laughingthrush after him. The blue crowned laughingthrush lives in a small number of fragmented sites close to human settlements. It roosts in trees, coming to the ground in flocks to forage for food. It has a rich blue crown and nape, blue-shaded outer primaries, and an olive-tinged brown back, black mask, yellow throat and belly.
