Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark Eremopterix griseus Scientific name definitions

11–12 cm. Small, sexually dimorphic lark with appearance superficially like that of a finch (Fringillidae). Adult male has pale greyish-brown forehead and crown (forehead often slightly paler, crown indistinctly streaked), black lores and eyeband , pale greyish-brown or pale buffish ear-coverts , grey-brown nape; upperparts grey-brown, lightly streaked, upperwing-coverts  , tertials and flight-feathers darker with pale edges, pale tips of especially median coverts; underwing-coverts blackish; tail blackish-brown or dark grey-brown, central feather pair paler, outermost pair dusky grey-brown, outer two pairs with off-white outer web; throat  , neck side and underparts blackish, narrow whitish band on breast side and flank; bill grey; legs pinkish. Differs from E. nigriceps in less black on head, duskier ear-coverts. Adult female lacks black on the head and underparts (but has blackish-brown underwing-coverts), is grey-brown and faintly streaked above, with indistinct buffish supercilium , pale crescent behind grey-brown ear-coverts, buffish below, breast indistinctly streaked dark; distinguished from very similar female E. nigriceps (of race melanauchen) by marginally darker, browner and more distinctly streaked upperparts, darker and more buffish underparts, on average diffuser and broader streaks below (often also on flanks), generally slightly more contrasting head pattern. Juvenile resembles female, but with whitish fringes of scapulars and upperwing-coverts; some first-adult males show reduced black on head and underparts.

Pakistan (R Indus Plains), and from S Himalayan foothills E to E Bangladesh and S to S tip of India, also Sri Lanka.

Dry open habitats with scattered low vegetation, from sea-level to c. 1000 m. Generally completely segregated by habitat from E. nigriceps (of race melanauchen) where their ranges overlap.

Sedentary or slightly nomadic.

Poorly studied: diet seeds  , e.g. of grasses and forbs (Chenopodiaceae), and insects  , e.g. small beetles (Coleoptera). Forages on ground .

Song, mainly in high flight, also from ground or low perch, strophes of quickly repeated short notes, e.g. “plü-plü-plü-plü-plü-plü-plü-plü-plü-plü-plü-plü-plüü” or “drrü-drrü-drrü-drrü-drree-drree-drree”, strophes interspersed with somewhat melancholy, drawn-out, whistled  “eeeeeeeeee” (given also during descent from flight, also from ground); alternatively, short strophes of slightly more varied, often quickly repeated, whistles , e.g. “eee-peee, pee-pee-pee”. Commonest call rather faint, soft, rolling “djürr(i)t”.

Little studied. Breeds more or less throughout year, but mainly Feb–Sept in peninsular India and May–Jun in Sri Lanka; probably at least sometimes two broods. Male song flight high up, intermittently dropping down and rising in deep undulation, final descent very deeply undulating. Nest, built mainly or entirely by female, a depression on ground, lined with fine grass  , rootlets, hair or feathers, and frequently surrounded by gravel, generally sheltered by stone, clod of earth or small bush. Clutch 2–3 eggs; incubation by female, or possibly by both parents; chicks fed  by both sexes, leave nest before capable of flying.

Not globally threatened. Locally common. No population estimates. Present in numerous protected areas, e.g. Ranthambhore Sanctuary (India) and Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (Nepal).