Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. All species occur in the Old World, and in northern and eastern Australia; only one, the Horned Lark, has spread to North America. Habitats vary widely, but many species live in dry regions.

Description

Larks are small- to medium-sized birds, 12 to 24 cm (5 to 8 inches) in length and 15 to 75 grams (0.5 to 2.6 ounces) in weight (Kikkawa 2003).

They have more elaborate calls than most birds, and often extravagant songs given in display flight (Kikkawa 2003). These melodious sounds (to human ears), combined with a willingness to expand into anthropogenic habitats — as long as these are not too intensively managed — have ensured larks a prominent place in literature and music, especially the Eurasian Skylark in northern Europe and the Crested Lark and Calandra Lark in southern Europe.

With these song flights, males defend their breeding territories and attract mates. Most species build nests on the ground, usually cups of dead grass, but in some species more complicated and partly domed. A few desert species nest very low in bushes, perhaps so circulating air can cool the nest. Larks' eggs are usually speckled, and clutch sizes range from 2 (especially in species of the driest deserts) to 6 (in species of temperate regions). Larks incubate for 11 to 16 days (Kikkawa 2003).

Like many ground birds, most lark species have long hind claws, which are thought to provide stability while standing. Most have streaked brown plumage, some boldly marked with black or white. Their dull appearance camouflages them on the ground, especially when on the nest. They feed on insects and seeds; though adults of most species eat seeds primarily, all species feed their young insects for at least the first week after hatching. Many species dig with their bills to uncover food. Some larks have heavy bills (reaching an extreme in the Thick-billed Lark) for cracking seeds open, while others have long, down-curved bills, which are especially suitable for digging (Kikkawa 2003).

Larks are the only passerines that lose all their feathers in their first moult (in all species whose first moult is known). This may result from the poor quality of the chicks' feathers, which in turn may result from the benefits to the parents of switching the young to a lower-quality diet (seeds), which requires less work from the parents (Kikkawa 2003).

In many respects, including long tertial feathers, larks resemble other ground birds such as pipits. However, in larks the tarsus (the lowest leg bone, connected to the toes) has only one set of scales on the rear surface, which is rounded. Pipits and all other songbirds have two plates of scales on the rear surface, which meet at a protruding rear edge (Ridgway 1907).

Relationships

Larks are a well-defined family, partly because of the shape of their tarsus (Ridgway 1907). They were long placed at or near the beginning of the songbirds or oscines (now often called Passeri), just after the suboscines and before the swallows, for example in the American Ornithologists' Union's first check-list (American Ornithologists' Union 1886, according to Patterson 2002). Some authorities, such as the British Ornithologists' Union (Dudley et al. 2006) and the Handbook of the Birds of the World, adhere to that placement. However, many other classifications follow the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy in placing the larks in a large oscine subgroup Passerida (which excludes crows, shrikes and their allies, vireos, and many groups characteristic of Australia and southeastern Asia). For instance, the American Ornithologists' Union places larks just after the crows, shrikes, and vireos. At a finer level of detail, some now place the larks at the beginning of a superfamily Sylvioidea with the swallows, various "Old World warbler" and "babbler" groups, and others (Barker et al. 2002, Alström et al. 2006).

Cultural meanings

Larks as food

Larks, commonly consumed with bones intact, have historically been considered wholesome, delicate, and light game. They can be used in a number of dishes, for example, they can be stewed, broiled, or used as filling in a meat pie. Lark's tongues were particularly highly valued. In modern times, shrinking habitats made lark meat rare and hard to come by, though it can still be found in restaurants in Italy and elsewhere in Southern Europe (Hooper).

Symbolism

The lark in mythology and literature stands for daybreak, as in Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale", "the bisy larke, mesager of day" (I.1487; Benson 1988), and Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, "the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate" (11-12). The lark is also (often simultaneously) associated with "lovers and lovers' observance" and with "church services" (Sylvester and Roberts 2000), and often those the meanings of daybreak and religious reference are combined (in Blake's Visions of the Daughters of Albion, into a "spiritual daybreak" (Baine and Baine 1986)) to signify "passage from Earth to Heaven and from Heaven to Earth" (Stevens 2001). In Renaissance painters such as Domenico Ghirlandaio the lark symbolizes Christ, in reference to John 16:16 (Cadogan 2000).

Species in taxonomic order

FAMILY: Alaudidae

• Genus: Mirafra
  • Foxy Lark, Mirafra alopex(sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
  • Monotonous Lark, Mirafra passerina
  • Singing Bush Lark, Mirafra cantillans
  • Horsfield's Bush Lark, Mirafra javanica
  • Melodious Lark, Mirafra cheniana
  • White-tailed Lark, Mirafra albicauda
  • Madagascar Lark, Mirafra hova
  • Kordofan Lark, Mirafra cordofanica
  • Williams's Lark, Mirafra williamsi
  • Friedmann's Lark, Mirafra pulpa
  • Red-winged Lark, Mirafra hypermetra
  • Somali Lark, Mirafra somalica
  • Ash's Lark, Mirafra ashi
  • Angola Lark, Mirafra angolensis
  • Rufous-naped Lark, Mirafra africana
  • Flappet Lark, Mirafra rufocinnamomea
  • Clapper Lark, Mirafra apiata
  • Collared Lark, Mirafra collaris
  • Indian Bush Lark or Red-winged Bushlark, Mirafra erythroptera
  • Indochinese Bush Lark, Mirafra erythrocephala
  • Burmese Bush Lark, Mirafra microptera
  • Gillett's Lark, Mirafra gilletti
  • Fawn-colored Lark, Mirafra africanoides (sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
  • Bengal Bush Lark, Mirafra assamica
  • Jerdon's Bush Lark Mirafra affinis
  • Rusty Bush Lark, Mirafra rufa
  • Pink-breasted Lark, Mirafra poecilosterna (sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
  • Degodi Lark, Mirafra degodiensis
  • Sabota Lark, Mirafra sabota(sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
• Genus: Pinarocorys
  • Rufous-rumped Lark, Pinarocorys erythropygia
  • Dusky Lark, Pinarocorys nigricans
• Genus: Heteromirafra
  • Archer's Lark, Heteromirafra archeri
  • Sidamo Lark, Heteromirafra sidamoensis
  • Rudd's Lark, Heteromirafra ruddi
• Genus: Certhilauda
  • Cape Long-billed Lark, Certhilauda curvirostris
  • Algulhas Long-billed Lark, Certhilauda brevirostris
  • Eastern Long-billed Lark, Certhilauda semitorquata
  • Karoo Long-billed Lark, Certhilauda subcoronata
  • Benguela Long-billed Lark, Certhilauda benguelensis
  • Short-clawed Lark, Certhilauda chuana
  • Dune Lark, Certhilauda erythrochlamys (sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
  • Karoo Lark, Certhilauda albescens (sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
  • Barlow's Lark, Certhilauda barlowi (sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
  • Red Lark, Certhilauda burra (sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
• Genus: Chersomanes
  • Spike-heeled Lark, Chersomanes albofasciata
• Genus: Eremopterix
  • Black-eared Sparrow-Lark, Eremopterix australis
  • Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark, Eremopterix leucotis
  • Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Eremopterix nigriceps
  • Grey-backed Sparrow-Lark, Eremopterix verticalis
  • Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark, Eremopterix signata
  • Fischer's Sparrow-Lark, Eremopterix leucopareia
  • Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Eremopterix grisea
• Genus: Ammomanes
  • Bar-tailed Lark, Ammomanes cincturus
  • Rufous-tailed Lark, Ammomanes phoenicurus
  • Desert Lark, Ammomanes deserti
  • Gray's Lark, Ammomanes grayi
• Genus: Alaemon
  • Greater Hoopoe-Lark, Alaemon alaudipes
  • Lesser Hoopoe-Lark, Alaemon hamertoni
• Genus: Ramphocoris
  • Thick-billed Lark, Ramphocoris clotbey
• Genus: Melanocorypha
  • Calandra Lark, Melanocorypha calandra
  • Bimaculated Lark, Melanocorypha bimaculata
  • Tibetan Lark, Melanocorypha maxima
  • Mongolian Lark, Melanocorypha mongolica
  • White-winged Lark, Melanocorypha leucoptera
  • Black Lark, Melanocorypha yeltoniensis
• Genus: Calandrella
  • Greater Short-toed Lark, Calandrella brachydactyla
  • Blanford's Lark, Calandrella blanfordi
  • Hume's Short-toed Lark, Calandrella acutirostris
  • Lesser Short-toed Lark, Calandrella rufescens
  • Red-capped Lark, Calandrella cinerea
  • Asian Short-toed Lark, Calandrella cheleensis
  • Sand Lark, Calandrella raytal
  • Somali Short-toed Lark, Calandrella somalica
• Genus: Spizocorys
  • Pink-billed Lark, Spizocorys conirostris
  • Botha's Lark, Spizocorys fringillaris
  • Sclater's Lark, Spizocorys sclateri
  • Obbia Lark, Spizocorys obbiensis
  • Masked Lark, Spizocorys personata
• Genus: Eremalauda
  • Dunn's Lark, Eremalauda dunni
  • Stark's Lark, Eremalauda starki
• Genus: Chersophilus
  • Dupont's Lark, Chersophilus duponti
• Genus: Galerida
  • Crested Lark, Galerida cristata
  • Thekla Lark, Galerida theklae
  • Malabar Lark, Galerida malabarica
  • Sun Lark, Galerida modesta
  • Sykes's Lark, Tawny Lark or Sykes' Crested Lark, Galerida deva
  • Large-billed Lark, Galerida magnirostris
• Genus: Pseudalaemon
  • Short-tailed Lark, Pseudalaemon fremantlii
• Genus: Lullula
  • Woodlark, Lullula arborea
• Genus: Alauda
  • Eurasian Skylark, Alauda arvensis
  • Japanese Skylark, Alauda japonica
  • Oriental Skylark, Alauda gulgula
  • Raso Lark, Alauda razae
• Genus: Eremophila
  • Horned Lark or Shore Lark, Eremophila alpestris
  • Temminck's Lark, Eremophila bilopha

See also

• Lark Bunting
• Lark Sparrow
• Magpie-lark (Neither a lark nor a magpie, but a giant Monarch flycatcher)
• Meadowlark
• Titlark, a synonym for Meadow Pipit
• Songlark

References

• Alström, Per; Ericson, Per G.P.; Olsson, Urban; Sundberg, Per (February 2006). "Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 38 (2): 381–397. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.015. PMID 16054402. 
• The American Ornithologists' Union (June, 1886). "The American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds". The American Naturalist 20 (6): 539. doi:10.1086/274272. 
• "Check-list of North American Birds". American Ornithologists' Union. 1998–2006. Archived from the original on 2008-03-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20080315195843/http://www.aou.org/checklist/index.php3. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
• Baine, Rodney M.; Baine, Mary R. (1986). The scattered portions: William Blake's biological symbolism. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-935265-10-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=9UlaAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 27 February 2012. 
• Barker, F. Keith; Barrowclough, George F.; Groth, Jeff G. (2002). "A phylogenetic hypothesis for passerine birds: taxonomic and biogeographic implications of an analysis of nuclear DNA sequence data" (pdf). Proc. R. Soc. B 269 (1488): 295–308. doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1883. PMC 1690884. PMID 11839199. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~barke042/pdfs/Barker.et.al02.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
• Benson, Larry D. (1988). The Riverside Chaucer. Oxford: Oxford UP. p. 45. ISBN 0-19-282109-1. 
• Cadogan, Jeanne K. (2000). Domenico Ghirlandaio: artist and artisan. Yale UP. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-300-08720-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=NGNEd9rplzcC&pg=PA215. Retrieved 27 February 2012. 
• Dudley, Steve P.; Gee, Mike; Kehoe, Chris; Melling, Tim M. (2006). "The British List: A Checklist of Birds of Britain (7th edition)". Ibis 148 (3): 526–563. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00603.x. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00603.x?cookieSet=1. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
• Hooper, John (2010-02-17). "Cat, dormouse and other Italian recipes". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/17/cat-dormouse-italian-recipes. Retrieved 2010-05-07. 
• Kikkawa, Jiro (2003). "Larks". In Perrins, Christopher (ed.). Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds. Firefly Books. pp. 578–583. ISBN 1-55297-777-3. 
• Patterson, Bob (2002). "The History of North American Bird Names in the American Ornithologists' Union Checklists 1886 - 2000". http://members.aol.com/darwinpage/zoo/AOUd.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
• Ridgway, Robert (1907). "The Birds of North and Middle America, Part IV". Bulletin of the United States National Museum 50: 289–290. http://books.google.com/?id=UtAWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA289. Retrieved 2008-06-25. 
• Stevens, Anthony (2001). Ariadne's Clue: A Guide to the Symbols of Humankind. Princeton UP. p. 363. ISBN 978-0-691-08661-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=06We3O2BWVwC&pg=PA363. Retrieved 27 February 2012. 
• Sylvester, Louise; Roberts, Jane Annette (2000). Middle English word studies: a word and author index. Boydell & Brewer. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-85991-606-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=vnRmyM52G6cC&pg=PA17. Retrieved 27 February 2012.