Lark

The family Alaudidae was introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors as a subfamily Alaudina of the finch family Fringillidae.{{cite book | last=Bock | first=Walter J. | year=1994 | title=History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names | series=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume= 222 | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | place=New York | pages=149, 264 | hdl=2246/830 }}{{ cite journal | last=Vigors | first=Nicholas Aylward | author-link=Nicholas Aylward Vigors | year=1825 | title=On the arrangement of the genera of birds | journal=Zoological Journal | volume=2 | pages=391–405 [398] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2255535 }} Larks are a well-defined family, partly because of the shape of their {{Birdgloss|tarsus}}.{{cite journal | last = Ridgway | first = Robert | author-link = Robert Ridgway | year = 1907 | journal = Bulletin of the United States National Museum | volume = 50 | title=The Birds of North and Middle America, Part IV | pages = 289–290 | url = https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7492565 }} They have multiple scutes on the hind side of their tarsi, rather than the single plate found in most songbirds. They also lack a pessulus, the bony central structure in the syrinx of songbirds.{{cite book | last=Ames | first=Peter L. | year=1971 | title=The morphology of the syrinx in passerine birds | series=Bulletin 37, Peabody Museum of Natural History | place=New Haven, Connecticut | publisher=Yale University | page=104 | url=http://peabody.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/scientific-publications/ypmB37_1971.pdf | access-date=2018-07-22 | archive-date=2021-02-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225094838/http://peabody.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/scientific-publications/ypmB37_1971.pdf | url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite web | last = Patterson | first = Bob | year = 2002 | title = The History of North American Bird Names in the American Ornithologists' Union Checklists 1886 - 2000 | url = http://members.aol.com/darwinpage/zoo/AOUd.htm | access-date = 24 June 2008}} Some authorities, such as the British Ornithologists' Union{{cite journal | last1 = Dudley | first1 = Steve P. | last2 = Gee | first2 = Mike | last3 = Kehoe | first3 = Chris | last4 = Melling | first4 = Tim M. | year = 2006 | title = The British List: A Checklist of Birds of Britain (7th edition) | journal = Ibis | volume = 148 | issue = 3 | pages = 526–563 | doi = 10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00603.x | url = http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/153488/1/153488.pdf | doi-access = free }} 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.{{cite journal | last = Barker | first = F. Keith |author2=Barrowclough, George F. |author3=Groth, Jeff G. | year = 2002 | title = A phylogenetic hypothesis for passerine birds: taxonomic and biogeographic implications of an analysis of nuclear DNA sequence data | journal =Proceedings of the Royal Society B | volume=269 | issue=1488 | pages= 295–308 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2001.1883 | doi-access=free | pmc=1690884 | pmid=11839199}}{{cite journal | last1 = Alström | first1 = Per | last2 = Ericson | first2 = Per G.P. | last3 = Olsson | first3 = Urban | last4 = Sundberg | first4 = Per | title = Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 38 | issue = 2 | year=2006 | pages=381–397 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.015 | pmid = 16054402}} Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that within the Sylvioidea the larks form a sister clade to the family Panuridae which contains a single species, the bearded reedling (Panurus biarmicus).{{cite journal | last1=Fregin | first1=Silke | last2=Haase | first2=Martin | last3=Olsson | first3=Urban | last4=Alström | first4=Per | year=2012 | title=New insights into family relationships within the avian superfamily Sylvioidea (Passeriformes) based on seven molecular markers | journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume=12 | issue=157 | pages=1–12 | doi=10.1186/1471-2148-12-157 | pmid=22920688 | pmc=3462691 | doi-access=free }} The phylogeny of larks (Alaudidae) was reviewed in 2013, leading to the recognition of the arrangement below.{{cite journal|last1=Alström|first1=Per|last2=Barnes|first2=Keith N.|last3=Olsson|first3=Urban|last4=Barker|first4=F. Keith|last5=Bloomer|first5=Paulette|last6=Khan|first6=Aleem Ahmed|last7=Qureshi|first7=Masood Ahmed|last8=Guillaumet|first8=Alban|last9=Crochet|first9=Pierre-Andre|last10=Ryan|first10=Peter G.|title=Multilocus phylogeny of the avian family Alaudidae (larks) reveals complex morphological evolution, non-monophyletic genera and hidden species diversity|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|year=2013|volume=69 | issue=3 |pages=1043–1056|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2013.06.005|pmid=23792153|url=http://pub.epsilon.slu.se/11222/90/alstrom_et_al_140630.pdf}}

The genus level cladogram shown below is based on a molecular phylogenetic study of the larks by Per Alström and collaborators published in 2023. The subfamilies are those proposed by the authors.{{Cite journal | last1=Alström | first1=P. | last2=Mohammadi | first2=Z. | last3=Enbody | first3=E.D. | last4=Irestedt | first4=M. | last5=Engelbrecht | first5=D. | last6=Crochet | first6=P.-A. | last7=Guillaumet | first7=A. | last8=Rancilhac | first8=L. | last9=Tieleman | first9=B.I. | last10=Olsson | first10=U. | last11=Donald | first11=P.F. | last12=Stervander | first12=M. | date=2023 | title=Systematics of the avian family Alaudidae using multilocus and genomic data | journal=Avian Research | volume=14 | pages=100095 | doi=10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100095 | doi-access=free}} For two species the results conflict with the taxonomy published online in July 2023 by Frank Gill, Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC): the rusty bush lark (Mirafra rufa) and Gillett's lark (Mirafra gilletti) were found to be embedded in the genus Calendulauda. Alström and collaborators proposed that the genus Mirafra should be split into four genera: Mirafra, Plocealauda, Amirafra and Corypha.

{{Clade | style=font-size:100%;line-height:100%

|label1=Alaudidae

|1={{clade

|label1=Certhilaudinae

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Alaemon – hoopoe-larks (2 species)

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Ammomanopsis – Gray's lark

|2=Chersomanes – larks (2 species)

}}

|2=Certhilauda – long-billed larks (6 species)

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Eremopterix – sparrow-larks (8 species)

|2={{clade

|1=Pinarocorys – larks (2 species)

|2={{clade

|1=Ramphocoris – thick-billed lark

|2=Ammomanes – larks (3 species)

}}

}}

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|label1=Mirafrinae

|1={{clade

|1=Calendulauda – larks (8 species)

|2={{clade

|1=Heteromirafra – larks (2 species)

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Mirafra – larks (7 species)

|2=Plocealauda – bush larks (5 species)

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Amirafra – larks (3 species)

|2=Corypha – larks (11 species)

}}

}}

}}

}}

|label2=Alaudinae

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Lullula – woodlark

|2=Spizocorys – larks (7 species)

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Alauda – skylarks (4 species)

|2=Galerida – larks (7 species)

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Eremophila – horned larks (2 species)

|2=Calandrella – short-toed larks (6 species)

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Melanocorypha – larks (5 species)

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Chersophilus – Dupont's lark

|2=Eremalauda – larks (2 species)

}}

|2=Alaudala – short-toed larks (6 species)

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

The family Alaudidae contains 102 extant species which are divided into 24 genera:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Nicators, Bearded Reedling, larks | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/larks/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=9 September 2024 }} For more detail, see list of lark species.

• Genus Eremarida – (Eremarida xerophila)

File:Chestnut-backed sparrow-lark (Eremopterix leucotis melanocephalus) male.jpg]]

Larks, or the family Alaudidae, are small- to medium-sized birds, {{convert|12|to|24|cm|1|abbr=on}} in length and {{convert|15|to|75|g|1|abbr=on}} in mass. The smallest larks are likely the Spizocorys species, which can weigh only around {{convert|14|g|oz|abbr=on}} in species like the pink-billed lark and the Obbia lark, while the largest lark is the Tibetan lark.{{cite book |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |edition=2nd |editor-first=John B. Jr. |editor-last=Dunning |publisher=CRC Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4200-6444-5}}

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.

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.

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.

Larks have more elaborate calls than most birds, and often extravagant songs given in display flight. 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.

Male larks use song flights to defend their breeding territory and attract a mate. Most species build nests on the ground, usually cups of dead grass, but in some species the nests are 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. The size of the clutch is very variable and ranges from the single egg laid by Sclater's lark up to 6–8 eggs laid by the calandra lark and the black lark.{{ cite book | last1=de Juana| first1=Eduardo | last2=Suárez | first2=Francisco | last3=Ryan | first3=Peter | year=2004 | chapter=Family Alaudidae (Larks) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Christie | editor3-first=D.A. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World | volume=9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails | place=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=978-84-87334-69-6 | pages=496–541 }} Larks incubate for 11 to 16 days.

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 are reputed to have been particularly highly valued as a delicacy. 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.

The lark in mythology and literature stands for daybreak, as in Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale", "the bisy larke, messager of day",{{cite book | last=Benson | first=Larry D. | year=2008 | title=The Riverside Chaucer | edition=3rd | publisher=Oxford University Press | location=Oxford | isbn=978-0-19-282109-6 | page=45, line 1491 }} 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" (as in Bernart de Ventadorn's Can vei la lauzeta mover) and with "church services".{{Cite journal | last=Bawcutt | first=Priscilla | date=1972 | title=The lark in Chaucer and some later poets | journal=Yearbook of English Studies | jstor=3506502 | volume=2 | pages=5–12 | doi=10.2307/3506502 }} These meanings of daybreak and religious reference can be combined, as in Blake's Visions of the Daughters of Albion, into a "spiritual daybreak"{{ cite book | last1=Baine | first1=Rodney M. | last2=Baine | first2=Mary R. | title=The scattered portions: William Blake's biological symbolism | year=1986 | isbn=978-0-935265-10-1 | page=70 | publisher=Author }} to signify "passage from Earth to Heaven and from Heaven to Earth".{{cite book | last=Stevens | first=Anthony | title=Ariadne's Clue: A Guide to the Symbols of Humankind | year=2001 | publisher=Princeton University Press | isbn=978-0-691-08661-3 | page=363 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=06We3O2BWVwC&pg=PA363 }} With Renaissance painters such as Domenico Ghirlandaio, the lark symbolizes Christ, with reference to John 16:16.{{cite book | last=Cadogan | first=Jeanne K. | year=2000 | title=Domenico Ghirlandaio: artist and artisan | publisher=Yale University Press | isbn=978-0-300-08720-8 | page=215 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NGNEd9rplzcC&pg=PA215 }}

Percy Bysshe Shelley's famed 1820 poem "To a Skylark" was inspired by the melodious song of a skylark during an evening walk.{{cite web |last1=Sandy |first1=Mark |title=To a Skylark |url=https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7305 |website=The Literary Encyclopedia |access-date=28 December 2020}}

English poet George Meredith wrote a poem titled "The Lark Ascending" in 1881.

In Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan, first book of the Gormenghast trilogy, "Swelter approache[s] [Lord Sepulchrave] with a salver of toasted larks" during the reception following newborn Titus's christening.

Canadian poet John McCrae mentions larks in his poem "In Flanders Fields".{{Cite web |last=McCrae |first=John |author-link=John McCrae |date=2023-02-25 |title=In Flanders Fields |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=Poetry Foundation}}

English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a musical setting of George Meredith's poem, completed in 1914. It was composed for violin and piano, and entitled The Lark Ascending - A Romance. The work received its first performance in December 1920. Soon afterwards the composer arranged it for violin and orchestra, in which version it was first performed in June 1921, and this is how the work remains best-known today.

The old Welsh folk song Marwnad yr Ehedydd (The Lark's Elegy) refers to the death of "the Lark", possibly as a coded reference to the Welsh leader Owain Glyndŵr.

The French-Canadian folk song Alouette refers to plucking feathers from a lark.{{Cite web |title="Alouette!" |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quotalouettequot-emc |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca |language=en}}

Traditionally, larks are kept as pets in China. In Beijing, larks are taught to mimic the voice of other songbirds and animals. It is an old-fashioned habit of the Beijingers to teach their larks 13 kinds of sounds in a strict order (called "the 13 songs of a lark", Chinese: 百灵十三套). The larks that can sing the full 13 sounds in the correct order are highly valued, while any disruption in the songs will decrease their value significantly.{{cite book | last=Jin | first=Shoushen | title=金受申讲北京 | year=2005 | publisher=Beijing Press | location=Beijing | isbn=9787200057935}}

Larks sing early in the day, often before dawn,{{cite book |last1=T |first1=C. |title=Lessons derived from the animal world |date=1847 |pages=269 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBMEAAAAQAAJ |language=en}} leading to the expression "up with the lark" for a person who is awake early in the day,{{cite web |title=Up with the lark |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/up-with-the-lark |website=Collins Dictionary |access-date=29 September 2022}} and the term lark being applied to someone who habitually rises early in the morning.

• Lark bunting
• Lark sparrow
• Magpie-lark—Neither a lark nor a magpie, but a giant monarch flycatcher)
• Meadowlark
• Songlark
• Titlark, a synonym for meadow pipit

{{Reflist | refs =

{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/17/cat-dormouse-italian-recipes|title=Cat, dormouse and other Italian recipes | work=The Guardian | location=London | first=John | last=Hooper | date=2010-02-17 | access-date=2010-05-07}}

{{cite book|last=Kikkawa|first=Jiro|chapter=Larks|editor=Perrins, Christopher|editor-link=Christopher Perrins|title=Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds|publisher=Firefly Books|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/578 578–583]|isbn=1-55297-777-3|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/578}}

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• {{ cite journal | last=Meinertzhagen | first=R. | year=1951 | title=Review of the Alaudidae | journal=Journal of Zoology | volume=121 | issue=1 | pages=81–132 | doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1951.tb00739.x | ref=none}}

{{Wikiquote|Larks}}

{{Commons category|Alaudidae}}

{{Wikispecies|Alaudidae}}

• [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/larks-alaudidae Lark videos, photos and sounds] - Internet Bird Collection

{{Larks IOC August2017}}

{{Larks eBird August2017}}

{{Larks Birdlife-HBW August2017}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q29858}}

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Category:Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors