Singing Bush Lark (Mirafra cantillans) [XC864517]
by Alain Malengreau from Salalah, Dhofar Governorate, Oman (song)
Singing Bush Lark (Mirafra cantillans) [XC114273]
by Bram Piot from Salalah, Dhofar, Oman (song)
Subspecies
Possibly forms a superspecies with Horsfield's Bushlark (Mirafra javanica), White-tailed Lark (Mirafra albicauda), Monotonous Lark (Mirafra passerina) and Melodious Lark (Mirafra cheniana). Frequently treated as conspecific with Horsfield's Bushlark (Mirafra javanica), and probably closest to and sister-taxon of that species, from which it differs by 1·8% in cytochrome b sequences. Some evidence that disjunct nominate subspecies of Indian Subcontinent is distinct from the Afrotropical populations. Further study is needed.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
chadensis Alexander, 1908 - Sahel zone of Africa from Senegal east to western Eritrea.
marginata Hawker, 1898 - Southern Eritrea, north-eastern Ethiopia, north-western and southern Somalia, southern Sudan, north-eastern Uganda, north-west, central and southern Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania.
simplex (Heuglin, 1868) - South-western Saudi Arabia, Yemen and western Oman.
cantillans Blyth, 1844 - Northern and southern Pakistan, India, western Nepal and south-eastern Bangladesh.