Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris'') is a species of

lark Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark oc ...

in the family

Alaudidae Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occ ...

. It is found in south-central Asia from Iran and Kazakhstan to China.

Taxonomy and systematics

The name commemorates the British naturalist

Allan Octavian Hume Allan Octavian Hume, CB ICS (4 June 1829 – 31 July 1912) was a British civil servant, political reformer, ornithologist and botanist who worked in British India. He was the founder of the Indian National Congress. A notable ornithologist, Hum ...

who described the species. The alternate name short-toed lark may also be used for three other species in the genus ''Calandrella''. The alternate name lesser short-toed lark should not be confused with the species of the same name, '' Alaudala rufescens''. Other alternate names for Hume's short-toed lark include Hume's lark and Karakoram short-toed lark.

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized: * ''C. a. acutirostris'' - Hume, 1873: Found from north-eastern Iran and eastern Kazakhstan to western China * Tibet short-toed lark (''C. a. tibetana'') - Brooks, WE, 1880: Originally described as a separate species. Found from north-eastern Pakistan to

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the ...

Description

Hume's short-toed lark is similar in size and appearance to the

greater short-toed lark The greater short-toed lark (''Calandrella brachydactyla'') is a small passerine bird. The current scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name, ''Calandrella'', is a diminutive of ''kalandros'', the calandra lark, and ''brachydactila'' ...

but is generally a duller-looking bird with slightly darker plumage and a slightly smaller beak. As with the greater short-toed lark, the colour varies across the broad range and is not a good distinguishing feature. Hume's short-toed lark grows to a length of from and the sexes are similar. The crown is brown with slight diffuse streaking, the cheeks are rufous-brown and the supercilium white. The upper parts are greyish-brown or sandy brown with darker streaking, and the upper tail coverts are washed with rufous-brown. The wings are greyish-brown with black barring and pale tips to the feathers. The underparts are mostly whitish, but there is a dark neck patch and a buffish-grey breast band. The breast is unstreaked. The voice helps distinguish this species; vocalisations include a shrill "''trree''" and a more rolling "''drreep''".

Gallery

File:Hume's Short-toed Lark.jpg, Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris'').Amravati, Maharashtra, India. File:Hume's Short-toed Lark (Feb 2016) MH.jpg, Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris''). Akola, Maharashtra, India.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q966703 Hume's short-toed lark Birds of Afghanistan Birds of Central Asia Birds of Pakistan Birds of the Himalayas Birds of Tibet Birds of Western China Hume's short-toed lark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot