Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
THE SONG BIRDS
THE LARKS
Desert Lark
The largest member of the group appears to be the Desert Lark {Alamon desertorum), which attains a length of from eight and a half to eleven inches, the female being much the smaller. The genus, which includes several other species, is known by the long, slender, gently curved bill, fully exposed nostrils, and short wings in which the outer primary is small though exceeding the primary coverts, while the toes and claws are very short and the latter very stout; the sexes are alike in plumage. The above-mentioned species, which ranges widely over the deserts of northern Africa, and thence through Persia and Afghanistan to western India, is isabelline-gray above, the chin and throat white, the fore neck and breast pale fulvous spotted with black, and the remainder of the lower parts white. The middle pair of tail-feathers are bright fulvous and the others black with fulvous margins, except the outer pair, which are white-margined, while the primaries are black with white bases. This grayish or ashy plumage, it will be observed, harmonizes well with the sandy wastes wherein it makes its home. It is said to run over the sand with great speed, quite resembling a small Plover, while the male during the breeding season utters his short, unpretentious song while circling in the air. In India the Desert Lark breeds in May or June, making a small, grass-lined nest on the sand and depositing usually three eggs, which are grayish white, marked with yellowish brown.
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