Sultan Tit

The male has the forehead and crown with the crest brilliant yellow (except glossy black in one subspecies); the whole upper plumage, sides of the head and neck, chin, throat, and breast-deep black glossed with green, the edges of the feathers of the upper plumage with a metallic lustre, and the outermost tail-feathers tipped with white; lower plumage from the breast downwards deep yellow, the thighs barred or mottled with white. The recumbent crest is raised when the bird is alert or alarmed. The female has the yellow parts duller; the upper plumage and sides of the head dark greenish-brown; the chin and throat glossed dark olive-green; wings and tail dull black; the feathers of the upper plumage edged with metallic green. The young resemble the female, but in the youngest stage the bright edges to the plumage of the upper parts are absent, and the greater wing coverts are edged with white. They forage in the mid and upper canopy singly or in small groups mainly and feed mainly on insects but sometimes feed on figs. Their loud calls with short repeated and variable whistling notes have a tit-like quality. The flight is slow and fluttering. The bill is black; the mouth dark; the eyelids grey; the iris dark brown; the legs are grey; the claws dark horn. …

There are four subspecies:

In 1890, Richard Bowdler Sharpe considered this species as a member of the former subfamily Liotrichinae within the Timaliidae. A 2005 study found that they appear to have distinctive mtDNA cytochrome b sequences, suggesting that they might not belong to the Paridae unless the penduline tits are included, but more recent, more detailed studies have clarified its placement in a near-basal position in the family Paridae and separate from the penduline tits.

The sultan tit forages mostly on invertebrates and larvae. The food sources are grasshoppers, mantises and web spiders, in addition to berries, other fruits and seeds. The search for food is mostly in the tree canopy, but sometimes also in higher undergrowth and bamboo areas.