Abstract: FoxP2 is the first gene involved in human speech. This gene also exists in birds and plays pivotal roles in development, adulthood, and avian vocal learning. The sequences of FoxP2 in five avian species and their related species were retrieved from GenBank and Ensembl. The sequence characterization, evolutionary rate of FoxP2 were analyzed. The phylogenetic analyses of five avian species and two reptile species, with two mammalian species as outgroup, were conducted. Using maximum parsimony (MP)，maximum likelihood (ML), and Bayesian inference (BI) methods based on the nucleotide sequence of FoxP2, the monophyly of five avian species was confirmed. Our results may provide useful information about the evolution of FoxP subfamily in birds.

Key words: FoxP2, sequence characterization, evolutionary rate, phylogeny