The wailing cisticola (Cisticola lais) is a species of bird in the Cisticolidae family. It is found in Angola, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland. The northern subspecies C. l. distinctus of Uganda, Kenya and northern Tanzania is sometimes regarded as a separate species, Lynes's cisticola. The common name of this subspecies commemorates the amateur ornithologist Rear Admiral Hubert Lynes.