Lark
Lark | |
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Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Superfamily: | Sylvioidea |
Family: | Alaudidae Vigors, 1825 |
Genera | |
see text |
Larks are
Taxonomy and systematics
The family Alaudidae was introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist
The genus level cladogram shown below is based on a
Alaudidae |
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Extant genera
The family Alaudidae contains 100 extant species which are divided into 21
Image | Genus | Living Species |
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Alaemon Keyserling & Blasius, 1840 |
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Chersomanes Cabanis, 1851 |
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Ammomanopsis Bianchi, 1905 |
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Certhilauda Swainson, 1827 |
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Pinarocorys Shelley, 1902 |
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Ramphocoris Bonaparte, 1850 |
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Ammomanes Cabanis, 1851 |
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Eremopterix Kaup, 1836 |
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Calendulauda Blyth, 1855 |
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Heteromirafra Grant, 1913 |
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Mirafra Horsfield, 1821 |
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Lullula Kaup, 1829 |
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Spizocorys Sundevall, 1872 |
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Alauda Linnaeus, 1758 |
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Galerida Boie, F, 1828 |
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Eremophila F. Boie, 1828 |
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Calandrella Kaup, 1829 |
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Melanocorypha F. Boie, 1828 |
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Chersophilus Sharpe, 1890 |
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Eremalauda WL Sclater, 1926 |
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Alaudala Horsfield & Moore, 1858 |
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Extinct genera
- Genus Eremarida — (Eremarida xerophila)
Description
Larks, or the family Alaudidae, are small- to medium-sized birds, 12 to 24 cm (4.7 to 9.4 in) in length and 15 to 75 g (0.5 to 2.6 oz) in mass.[14] The smallest larks are likely the Spizocorys species, which can weigh only around 14 g (0.49 oz) in species like the pink-billed lark and the Obbia lark, while the largest lark is the Tibetan lark.[15]
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.[14]
Larks are the only passerines that lose all their feathers in their first
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.[4]
Calls and song
Larks have more elaborate calls than most birds, and often extravagant songs given in display flight.[14] 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.
Behaviour
Breeding
Male larks use song flights to defend their breeding territory and attract a mate. Most species build nests on the ground, usually
In culture
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 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.[17]
Symbolism
The lark in mythology and literature stands for daybreak, as in
Literature
Percy Bysshe Shelley's famed 1820 poem "To a Skylark" was inspired by the melodious song of a skylark during an evening walk.[23]
English poet George Meredith wrote a poem titled "The Lark Ascending" in 1881.
In
Canadian poet John McCrae mentions larks in his poem "In Flanders Fields".[24]
Music
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.
Pet
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.[25]
Early awakening
Larks sing early in the day, often before dawn,[26] leading to the expression "up with the lark" for a person who is awake early in the day,[27] and the term lark being applied to someone who habitually rises early in the morning.
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
- "Alouette" (a song)
References
- ^ "lark". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- hdl:2246/830.
- ^ Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1825). "On the arrangement of the genera of birds". Zoological Journal. 2: 391–405 [398].
- ^ a b Ridgway, Robert (1907). "The Birds of North and Middle America, Part IV". Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 50: 289–290.
- ^ Ames, Peter L. (1971). The morphology of the syrinx in passerine birds (PDF). Bulletin 37, Peabody Museum of Natural History. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University. p. 104. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
- ^ Patterson, Bob (2002). "The History of North American Bird Names in the American Ornithologists' Union Checklists 1886 - 2000". Retrieved 24 June 2008.
- .
- PMID 11839199.
- PMID 16054402.
- PMID 22920688.
- PMID 23792153.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Nicators, Bearded Reedling, larks". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
- ^ .
- ^ ISBN 1-55297-777-3.
- ISBN 978-1-4200-6444-5.
- ISBN 978-84-87334-69-6.
- ^ Hooper, John (2010-02-17). "Cat, dormouse and other Italian recipes". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
- ISBN 978-0-19-282109-6.
- JSTOR 3506502.
- ISBN 978-0-935265-10-1.
- ISBN 978-0-691-08661-3.
- ISBN 978-0-300-08720-8.
- ^ Sandy, Mark. "To a Skylark". The Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ McCrae, John (2023-02-25). "In Flanders Fields". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
- ISBN 9787200057935.
- ^ T, C. (1847). Lessons derived from the animal world. p. 269.
- ^ "Up with the lark". Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
Further reading
- Meinertzhagen, R. (1951). "Review of the Alaudidae". Journal of Zoology. 121 (1): 81–132. .
External links
- Lark videos, photos and sounds - Internet Bird Collection