Поющая лесная жаворонка (Mirafra javanica)

Species of bird

The singing bush lark or Horsfield's bush lark (Mirafra javanica) is a species of lark which inhabits grassland throughout most of Australia and much of Southeast Asia. It was described by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield.

The singing bush lark was formally described in 1821 by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield from a specimen collected on the island of Java. He placed the lark in the genus Mirafra and coined the binomial name Mirafra javanica. The singing bush lark is one of 100 species of larks of the rather large and fairly diverse family, Alaudidae. They are small to medium small passerines, usually with rather drab, brownish plumage. Predominantly an Old World family, the species are distributed widely across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent but the singing bush lark is the only species occurring naturally in Wallacea, New Guinea and Australia. Other alternate names for the singing bush lark include the Australasian bushlark, Australian lark, eastern bush lark, eastern lark, eastern singing bush lark, Horsfield's lark and Javan lark. Morphologically, the family Alaudidae constitutes a well defined group, whose members share unique features of the syrinx and tarsus. The syrinx lacks a pessulus, which is unique among oscines but occurs in many suboscine genera. They have a single fossa at the head of the humerus, rather than the double fossae of other passeroid songbirds, but typical of corvoid songbirds.

The singing bush lark is a small, thickset bird with a large head, a short, sparrow like bill and a small crest which is only visible when raised. Its dorsal plumage colour is brown, reddish or sandy with darker central streaks to the feathers. The breast is mottled or streaked and it has a buff eyebrow. The underparts are pale, with a brown tail. The adult upper parts and crown are near black with coarse buff to russet streaking. Juveniles are similar but the crown and upper parts are neatly scaled by narrow white fringes to the feathers. Nestlings have dense natal down and contrasting dark spots on their tongue and mouth. The wings are short and rounded with a distinctive rufous panel. The innermost secondary feather is vestigial and of the ten primary feathers, p10 is very short but not vestigial. The primaries moult outward starting at p1 while the tail and body moult during the early stages of, or just before the start of the moult of the primaries. In Australia they inhabit chenopod shrublands, native and exotic grasslands in temperate and tropical areas, coastal heathlands, dunes, mudflats and also modified open habitats such as crop and pastureland. They are found less commonly on playing fields, golf courses, road verges, salt marshes and other shrublands or heathland and rarely in treed habitats. Of historical interest is an account written by ornithologist and former curator of the Australian Museum, Edward P. Ramsay. Published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London in 1865 he described nidification of M. j. horsfieldii, "The nests of Mirafra horsfieldi are usually found during the months of November, December, and often as late as January and February. They are loose ragged structures, and not finished off nicely, like those of Anthus australis. They are cup shaped, and are composed wholly of grasses, without any particular lining. The situation chosen is a little hollow scraped out by the side of a tuft of grass or straw, or behind a clod of earth; the front edge of the nest alone is smoothed down the back part being left ragged, and often drawn forward as if to help to conceal the eggs. The nest is about 28 inches in diameter by 1 inch in depth. On the 4th of' February, 1861, we took a nest from a hay field at M'Quarie Fields containing three eggs, which is the usual number. These are in length from 8 to 10 lines by from 6 to 7 in breadth, and of a light earthy brown, thickly marked over the whole surface with freckles of a much darker hue. Some specimens are darker in colour than others; and after a time the ground colour becomes of a more yellowish tint, and the markings much duller and more indistinct."

During the breeding period they sing any time of day or night, on the ground and low perches or in song flights hovering high over territory. The bush lark can sustain a melodious song which is typically interspersed with skillful mimicry of many other species.

Bush larks are terrestrial and omnivorous foragers with a short, stout bill suited for crushing seeds. They eat mainly grass seeds and invertebrates, particularly insects during the breeding season. By gleaning and probing most food is taken from the ground surface or, just below. Mostly they forage alone, but sometimes are found in small parties.