The species was split by the AOU in 2013 from the species complex Thrush-like Schiffornis.
Thrush-like Schiffornis | Letter-winged Kite | Red-winged Lark | Azure-winged Magpie | Winged Victory of Samothrace | Winged sun | Rufous-winged Illadopsis | Northern Rough-winged Swallow | Black-winged Red Bishop | Bar-winged Cinclodes (disambiguation) | Bar-winged Cinclodes | White-winged Triller | White-winged Fairywren | Red-winged Fairywren | Winged Victory | Winged monkeys | Winged Figure | White-winged Scoter | Spot-winged Wood Quail | Southern Rough-winged Swallow | Red-winged Blackbird | red-winged blackbird | Green-winged Teal | Blue-winged Leafbird | Black-winged Lory | Bar-winged Rail | azure-winged magpie |
Johann Georg Wagler writes descriptions of new bird species in Isis, oder Encyclopädische Zeitung published by Lorenz Oken Some are: the Russet-throated Puffbird, the Golden-fronted Woodpecker, the Pinnated Bittern, the Chestnut-coloured Woodpecker, the Brown Jay, the Intermediate Egret and the Ladder-backed Woodpecker
The subspecies M. a. krishnarajui of the Eastern Ghats has a darker russet tail and rump than the Himalayan nominate subspecies.
At just the same time Thomas Lodge's moralising pamphlet Wits Miserie (London, 1596) recorded "The farmer that was contented in times past with his Russet Frocke & Mockado sleeues, now sels a Cow against Easter to buy him silken geere for his Credit".
The quarter is called La Croix-Rousse (The russet cross) because of the cross the Christians put there in the 16th century: made in stone from Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or, it was reddish-brown.
Humble squires and priests, such as Franciscans wore russet as a sign of humility but preferred a good quality russet such as that made in Colchester, which was better than the cheapest cloth.
By 1941, soldiers wore a wool flannel shirt and wool serge trousers in winter and a cotton khaki shirt and trousers in summer, both with ankle length russet leather service shoes and OD canvas leggings, and often with the OD cotton M-1941 Field Jacket.