The zitting cisticola, formerly also fan-tailed warbler or streaked fantail warbler (Cisticola juncidis), is a widely distributed Old World warbler in the family Cisticolidae, whose breeding range includes western and southern Europe, Africa outside the deserts and rainforest, and southern Asia down to northern Australia. A small bird found mainly in grasslands, it is best identified by its rufous rump; in addition it lacks any gold on the collar and the brownish tail is tipped with white. During the breeding season males have a zigzagging flight display accompanied by regular "zit" calls that give it its English name. They build their pouch nest suspended within a clump of grass.

The zitting cisticola was described by the naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1810 and given the binomial name Sylvia juncidis. The type locality is Campofelice di Roccella in Sicily. The current genus name Cisticola is from Ancient Greek kisthos, "rock-rose", and Latin colere, "to dwell". The specific juncidis is also from Latin and is a diminutive of iuncus, "reed".

A total of 17 subspecies are currently accepted; they fall into two main groups, with a deep genetic divide between them coinciding with the large gap in the range between western Iran and Pakistan:

The subspecies differ slightly in plumage and size, and more obviously in song structure; some have been suggested as potential full species.

In a major study of the song, two major regional song types were found, with one group of seven dialects in Africa and the Western Palearctic, and the other with eight dialects in the Eastern Palearctic to Australasia. Within each of the two regions, the dialects overlap, and did not fully match the accepted subspecies boundaries, suggesting more local and moderate distance dispersal than previously believed (e.g. a bird with a typically northwestern African dialect found in Corsica, and one with a typically mid-European dialect found in western Morocco). In much of the range, the song is given evenly spaced "zit – zit – zit – zit – zit – zit", but in eastern Asia, a 'double zit' form "zit zit – zit zit – zit zit" occurs, largely (but not fully) coinciding with the subspecies C. j. malaya, C. j. tinnabulans, C. j. brunniceps, and the Indonesian and Australasian subspecies. The Indian subspecies C. j. cursitans has singly-spaced "zit" as in the western birds, but with the 'zit dialect' more like other eastern birds.

C. j. salimalii does not show seasonal tail length variation as in C. j. cursitans, which has a longer tail in the non-breeding season.^{[citation needed]}

This species was previously known as the fan-tailed warbler, but the current name gives consistency with the many tropical cisticola species, as well as avoiding confusion with an American species also named the fan-tailed warbler.^{[citation needed]}

The zitting cisticola is 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) in length. It is brown above, heavily streaked with black markings. The underparts are whitish, and the tail is broad, white-tipped and flicked frequently, giving rise to the alternative name for the species. The adult males have less crown streaking and more back marking than the females, but there are no great differences between the sexes or the 17 geographical subspecies. The absence of a nuchal collar separates it from the golden-headed cisticola (Cisticola exilis). In the non-breeding season, they tend to skulk within the grass and can be hard to spot.