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Asity
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Illustration of a velvet asity (Philepitta castanea), a small bird with dark green and yellow mottled plumage, perched on a mossy branch.
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Illustration of a velvet asity (Philepitta castanea), a small bird with dark green and yellow mottled plumage, perched on a mossy branch.
Velvet asity (Philepitta castanea)

Asity

bird
Also known as: Philepitta
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

Asity, either of two species of short-tailed, 15-centimetre- (6-inch-) long birds of the family Philepittidae (order Passeriformes), inhabiting forests of Madagascar. The male of the velvet asity (Philepitta castanea) has yellow tips to its feathers when newly molted, but these wear off, leaving the bird all black; at the same time, a green wattle grows above the eye. The female is greenish. The male of Schlegel’s asity (P. schlegeli) is yellow after molt, except for its black crown, and the wattle extends around the eye. Velvet asities eat berries and other fruit in undergrowth, and they build hanging nests with a little roof over the entrance.