 the bar-winged flycatcher-shrike (hemipus picatus) is a small passerine bird currently placed in the cuckoo-shrike family but possibly closer to the bushshrikes of africa. it is found in the forests of tropical southern asia from the himalayas and hills of the indian subcontinent east to indonesia. mainly insectivorous it is found hunting in the mid-canopy of forests, often joining mixed-species foraging flocks. they perch upright and have a distinctive pattern of black and white, males being more shiny black than the females. in some populations the colour of the back is brownish while others have a dark wash on the underside. ==description== thumb|left|head showing hook-tipped beak and rictal bristles the bar-winged flycatcher-shrike is black capped with black wings that contrast with the white of the body. a white slash across the wing and a white rump stand out in contrast. they sit upright on branches, flying around to glean insects. the nostril is hidden by hairs and the upper mandible of the beak has a curved tip. males are velvety black while females tend to be greyish brown but the pattern varies across the geographic populations. both males and females of the himalayan h. p. capitalis have a brown back but the males have a black head. the sri lankan population leggei lacks sexual dimorphism in plumage. h. p. intermedius has only the females with a brownish back. the tail is black but the outer tail feathers are white while the non-central tail feathers are tipped with white.{{c
Birds_of_Asia Birds_of_Bangladesh Birds_of_Bhutan Birds_of_Brunei Birds_of_Burma Birds_of_Cambodia Birds_of_China Birds_of_India Birds_of_Indonesia Birds_of_Laos Birds_of_Malaysia Birds_of_Nepal Birds_of_Southeast_Asia Birds_of_Sri_Lanka Birds_of_Thailand Birds_of_Vietnam Hemipus IUCN_Red_List_least_concern_species