Hume's Lark Calandrella acutirostris Scientific name definitions

13–14 cm. Small, neat, rather pale lark  with long tertials almost cloaking tips of folded wings. Nominate race has white supercilium, and distinct dark loral spot; overall grey-brown or brown-grey above, crown slightly rufous-tinged and faintly dark-streaked (often appears almost uniform), hindneck rather plain, upperparts fairly ­heavily streaked dark, uppertail-coverts ­rufous-tinged; wings dark grey-brown, upperwing-coverts and tertials with buffish tips and edges, remiges with narrow pale edges; tail blackish-brown, central feather pair with broad brownish edges, outermost pair with whitish outer web and usually some pale on inner web (sometimes none, occasionally a prominent pale wedge); whitish below, breast washed buffish to more brown-grey, small blackish patch on side of lower neck/upper breast (can be obscured in fresh autumn plumage); bill pale brownish-yellow or greyish-yellow, culmen and tip of lower mandible dark grey; legs pinkish to brownish. Distinguished from very similar C. brachydactyla (of greyish race longipennis) by less contrastingly streaked crown, dark loral stripe, better-defined whiter and narrower but more contrasting supercilium, usually less white on outer rectrix, usually longer and more slender and pointed bill with yellow coloration and darker culmen; in the hand, 6th primary (numbered descendently) marginally shorter (not considerably shorter) than wingtip, and three (not two) distinct emarginations of primaries. Sexes similar in plumage, female on average smaller than male. Juvenile has distinct whitish fringes and dark subterminal bands above, lacks dark patch on neck/breast side (breast side indistinctly dark-spotted), has shorter tertials than adult (not reaching tip of wing), very similar to juvenile C. brachydactyla. Race tibetana is paler, greyer and less prominently streaked on upperparts than nominate, also has less marked head pattern  , with supercilium generally less distinct, especially in front of eye, dark loral stripe less obvious (can appear to be absent).

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Breeds in sandy and gravelly habitats with very sparse vegetation , at elevations of 1000–5000 m. Winters in similar or slightly less barren habitats at low altitudes; often found together with C. brachydactyla (of race longipennis) in non-breeding season, but usually not in mixed flocks.

Migratory. Nominate race winters mainly in Pakistan and NW India; tibetana in Nepal, N India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Leaves Tibetan Plateau at the latest in Oct; present in NW India between late Sept and early May; arrival back on Tibetan Plateau from early Apr, and in W Tien Shan in late Apr to early May. Status in NE Iran requires confirmation, and species might be merely vagrant. Recorded as vagrant in Israel.

Food poorly known; seeds and invertebrates. Forages on ground , in flocks in non-breeding season.

Song  , mainly in high flight, short strophes  of varied short (though often rather complex) notes interspersed with relatively long pauses, resembles that of C. brachydactyla but usually slower and includes more whistles and harsh notes; when on ground, or in low flight (or during ascent to high song flight), strophes more irregular and pauses often shorter, individual song elements tend to be shorter than in high flight, and song includes drawn-out whistles (often repeated many times), call notes and sometimes imitations of other birds. Commonest call  a dry, harsh, rattling or even rasping “chirr” or “chirrrp”, harsher, more rattling and more drawn out than corresponding call of C. brachydactyla.

Not globally threatened. Locally common; scarce in some areas. Frequent to scarce in Pakistan; in India  , common in Ladakh  but less common in Sikkim; common in NW Nepal; rare to locally abundant in China. Apparently rare in NE Iran and Bhutan, though limited information. No population estimates available.