The Scarlet Minivet is a small passerine bird found in tropical southern Asia from India to China and Indonesia. Males are typically scarlet to orange with black upper parts, while females are usually yellow with grayish olive upper parts. They forage in small groups high in forest canopies, gleaning for insects. There is considerable variation among the many subspecies, with some formerly considered subspecies now considered full species.

1. Scarlet Minivet
The Scarlet Minivet, Pericrocotus flammeus is a small passerine bird. This Minivet is found in tropical
southern Asia from the Indian subcontinent east to southern China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They are
common resident breeding birds in forests and other well-wooded habitats including gardens, especially in
hilly country. While the male of most subspecies are scarlet to orange with black upper parts, the females
are usually yellow with grayish olive upper parts. Several former subspecies have been elevated to species
status in recent works. These include the Orange Minivet (flammeus in the narrow sense) while the Scarlet
Minivet in the restricted sense is used for Pericrocotus specious. All subspecies have the same habits of
gleaning for insects and are often seen in mixed-species foraging flocks, usually foraging in small groups,
high up in the forest canopy. The Scarlet Minivet is 20–22 cm (7.9–8.7 in) long with a strong dark beak and
long wings. The male has black upperparts and head, and scarlet under parts, tail edges, rump and wing
patches. The shape and colour of the wing patches and the shade or orange in the male varies across
populations. In the subspecies nigroluteus and marchesae from south Philippines the scarlet/orange is
entirely replaced by yellow. The female is grey above, with yellow under parts (including the face), tail
edges, rump and wing patches. There is considerable geographic variation in this species and several
disjunct populations exist. Some former races are sometimes considered full species requiring the
reorganization of other former subspecies. As many as nineteen subspecies have been described. Race
specious (Latham, 1790) found along the Himalayas from Kashmir east to southern China has been elevated
to a full species in some works. If this is considered a species, then the races fraterculus, andamanensis and
semiruber would be considered as subspecies of that species. This Minivet catches insects in trees by fly
catching or while perched. It flushes insects out of foliage by beating its wings hard. Scarlet Minivet will
form small flocks. Its song is a pleasant whistling. This bird nests high up in the treetops. The nest is a cup-
like structure woven with small twigs and spiders' webs to increase the strength of the nest. Two or three
spotted pale green eggs are laid. Incubation is mainly by the female, but both birds help to raise the
offspring.
Subspecies
The named subspecies within this complex include:
 Fraterculus Swinhoe, 1870 is found in the northeast of India and extends into Myanmar, Yunnan and
Hainan
 Semiruber Whistler & Kinnear, 1933 is found in southern Myanmar and Thailand
 Andamanensis Beaver, 1867 - Andaman Islands
 Orange Minivet, 1781 Western Ghats, Nilgiris and Sri Lanka
 Fohkiensis Buturlin, 1910 is found in Southeastern China
 Flammifer Hume, 1875 is found in southern Myanmar, southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia
 Xanthogaster (Raffles, 1822) is found in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra