Dupont's lark

Dupont's lark
Conservation status

Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
Genus: Chersophilus
Sharpe, 1890
Species: C. duponti
Binomial name
Chersophilus duponti
(Vieillot, 1820)

Dupont's lark (Chersophilus duponti) is the only lark in the genus Chersophilus.

Description

Like most other larks, Dupont's lark is an undistinguished looking species on the ground. It is 17–18 cm long, slim, with a long neck, long legs and a fine slightly curved bill. It has a thin pale crown stripe and a dark-streaked breast.

Taxonomy and nomenclature

Dupont's lark was originally described by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1820.[2] It was named for the French naturalist Léonard Puech Dupont, who had collected the species and showed it to Vieillot.[3]

There are two races. C. d. duponti of Europe and north-west Africa is mainly brown-grey above and pale below. C. d. margaritae, which occupies most of the rest of the African range, has rufous upperparts.

Distribution

It breeds across much of north Africa, from Algeria to Egypt, and in Spain and France.[1] It is a non-migratory resident.

Behaviour

This is a very shy species, which runs for cover when disturbed. It is difficult to see while running among vegetation but it sometimes sings, standing upright on the edge of a low bush.

Breeding

This is a bird of open sandy semi-desert or steppe with some grass. Its nest is on the ground, with three or four eggs being laid. Its food is seeds and insects.

Vocalisations

Its song is a repeated thin, melancholic whistling phrase, very ventriloquial (difficult to locate) and a nasal whistle given mainly at dawn and dusk or at night.

References

External links