Australia, Cambodia, China (mainland), Hong Kong (China), Indonesia (B), Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines (B), Thailand, Timor-Leste (B) (NB), Vietnam.
Habits
Usually singly or in pairs in the breeding season. Often in small flocks, and occasionally in large flocks of hundreds in the non-breeding season.
Food
Seeds and invertebrates, mainly insects.
Voice
Chirrups when disturbed. Melodious songs. Sings while hovering high, in low undulating flight or perched. Mimics.
Horsfield's Bush Lark (Mirafra javanica) [XC761168]
by Nigel Jackett from Berrimah, City of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia (song)
Horsfield's Bush Lark (Mirafra javanica) [XC129820]
by Colin Trainor from Assalaino, Lautem, East Timor (flight call, imitation, song, mimicry of saxicola coprata at least)
Nest
Small, rounded, domed, with a large side-entrance, composed of dried grasses, lined with finer grasses, built in a slight depression scraped in the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 4; dull, white, freckled with dark grey to grey-brownl oval to oblong-oval; about 15 x 13 mm. Incubation: by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 10 days. Fed by both sexes.
Subspecies
Relationship with African congeners not known. Possibly forms a superspecies with Singing Lark (Mirafra cantillans), White-tailed Lark (Mirafra albicauda), Monotonous Lark (Mirafra passerina) and Melodious Lark (Mirafra cheniana)., but validity of this grouping remains untested. Often treated as conspecific with Singing Lark (Mirafra cantillans), and probably closest to and sister-taxon of that species, from which it differs by 1·8% in cytochrome b sequences. Geographical variation to some extent correlated with colour of local soil substrate and regional humidity, and there is much presumed convergence in appearance among taxa. Only Australian and mainland south-eastern Asian subspecies revised recently, and further study is needed.
Subspecies woodwardi sometimes considered a separate species. Described subspecies beaulieui (southern Vietnam) is synonymized with williamsoni, sepikiana (northern New Guinea) with aliena, subrufescens (north-western Australia) with forresti, normantoni (north-eastern Australia) with rufescens, and keasti (south-eastern South Australia) with horsfieldi.
The following 16 subspecies are recognised:
williamsoni Baker, ECS, 1915 - Locally in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and extreme southern China (including northern Hainan).
Similar Species
Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) which is larger and has a crest, and a thinner bill and Australian Pipit (Anthus australis) which is larger, and it pumps it tail up and down, and has a thinner bill.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet