The Malabar whistling thrush (Myophonus horsfieldii) is a whistling thrush in the family Muscicapidae. The bird has been called whistling schoolboy for the whistling calls that they make at dawn that have a very human quality. The species is a resident in the Western Ghats and associated hills of peninsular India including central India and parts of the Eastern Ghats.
Malabar whistling thrushes are usually found in dark undergrowth in dense riverine forest. They typically forage in the margins, beds and adjacent ground of rocky hill streams and rivers in forest, secondary growth and plantations from foothills up to 2200 m above sea level but reach the plains in the rainy season. The species is found all along the Western Ghats south of the Surat Dangs. They are also found along the Satpura range to Chhattisgarh, northwestern Orissa (Surguja and Simlipal National Park), and locally in the Eastern Ghats. Populations are not migratory but are known to disperse widely in winter. An individual that was ringed in Mahabaleshwar in the summer of 1972 was recovered in the winter of 1976 in Sampaje, Coorg. Although historically recorded twice from Mount Abu, more recent surveys have not recorded the bird or suitable habitat in that location.
