Habits
Usually singly or in twos in the breeding season and also in small loose flocks.
Food
Mainly insects and seeds, including grains. Occasionally foliage and fruits. Insects in summer. At other times mixed with seeds, grains, flowers and roots.
Voice
Lengthly, outpourings of rich sound, a clear, very attractive and musical song often given during steep, upward flights. A loud, melodious warbling in flight. Also a quick, mellow, 'chirrup'.
Nest
A shallow depression amongst growing grass, lined with vegetation.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 5; smooth, glossy, white, thickly speckled with brown; tapered-oval; about 24 x 17 mm. Incubation: 11 - 13 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 9 - 10 days.
Subspecies
May form a superspecies with Oriental Skylark (Alauda gulgula), and has been considered conspecific.
Other proposed subspecies sometimes recognized include ticehursti (north-western Iberia), included in guillelmi; dementieva (south-east of Caspian Sea), in dulcivox; alticola (south-eastern Altai), in kiborti; nigrescens (Amur Basin), in intermedia; and buxtoni (north-eastern coast of Sea of Okhotsk), in pekinensis.
Perhaps two subspecies in Australia, nominate arvensis, and scotia. Populations were introduced in south-east from Hunter River, New South Wales, south to Tasmania and west to Eyre Peninsula, including Kangaroo Island, SA, Lord Howe Island, and New Zeland (NI, SI, Chatham Islands, but vagrant to Kermadec, Antipodes, Snares, Auckland and Campbell Islands).
The following 13 subspecies are recognised:
scotica Linnaeus, 1758 - North-western Europe (Faeroe Is, northern and western Scotland, Ireland, north-western England).
arvensis Linnaeus, 1758 - Northern, western and central Europe (east to western side of Urals).
guillelmi Witherby, 1921 - North-western Spain and northern Portugal.
sierrae Weigold, 1913 - Southern Portugal and central and southern Spain.
cantarella Bonaparte, 1850 - Southern Europe from north-eastern Spain east, including Mediterranean islands, to central and northern Turkey and Caucasus.
harterti Whitaker, 1904 - North-western Africa.
armenica Bogdanov, 1879 - South-eastern Turkey and Transcaucasia east to northern Iran.
dulcivox Hume, 1872 - Breeds south-eastern European Russia and western Siberia, south to northern Kazakhstan, north-western China (Xinjiang) and south-western Mongolia.
intermedia Swinhoe, 1863 - Breeds north-central Siberia from basin of R Vilyuy and middle R Lena east to R Kolyma basin, south to north-eastern China and Korea.
kiborti Zaliesski, 1917 - Breeds Altai east to Transbaikalia, northern and eastern Mongolia and north-western Manchuria.
pekinensis Swinhoe, 1863 - Breeds north-eastern Siberia (from upper R Indigirka) east to Koryakland and south to Kamchatka and northern Kuril Is.
lonnbergi Hachisuka, 1926 - Breeds northern Sakhalin, Shantar Is (in south-western Sea of Okhotsk), possibly also lower Amur Basin.
japonica Temminck & Schlegel, 1848 - Southern Sakhalin, southern Kurils, Japan and Ryukyu Is. Sometimes considered afull species, Japanese Skylark (Alauda japonica). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Japanese Skylark (Alauda japonica).
Similar Species
Australian Pipit (Anthus australis) which has longer legs and distinctive facial markings and lacks a crest and Horsfield's Bushlark (Mirafra javanica) which lacks a crest.
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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