Bengal Bushlark Mirafra assamica Scientific name definitions

16 cm. Heavy-bodied lark with large bill, short tail  and wings, rather long legs. Has buffish supercilium  (greyish-white when plumage worn); rather dark brown-grey or grey-brown above, crown, mantle  and scapulars with moderately distinct dark streaks  , nape indistinctly streaked; wings dark grey-brown or blackish-brown, upperwing-coverts  and tertials with buffish or rufous-buffish tips and edges, broad rufous edges of primaries forming prominent rufous patch (most noticeable in flight); tail dark grey-brown, outer web of outermost rectrix rufous-buff (pale buffish when worn); underparts  rufous-buff (paler when worn), breast  with moderately heavy dark streaks; iris brown; bill mostly dark grey above and pinkish below  ; legs  pink. Distinguished from e.g. M. affinis, M. microptera and M. erythroptera in overall darker and less contrastingly patterned plumage. Sexes alike in plumage, female on average smaller. Juvenile differs mainly in showing more extensive and more clearcut dark centres and narrow pale tips on crown, mantle and scapulars.

N India and S Nepal E to Bhutan, Bangladesh and extreme W Myanmar.

Open grassland and fields in plains, generally, but not necessarily, with scattered bushes and trees; sometimes rather wet. Almost entirely terrestrial.

Sedentary.

Diet poorly known; includes seeds and invertebrates.

Song  a characteristic monotonous repetition of a thin, slightly harsh, squeaky, disyllabic note, usually given in flight; less common song, mainly from ground or low perch, rarely in flight, a jingle of short, varied notes and mimicry. Call  a short, explosive series of mainly high-pitched notes.

Little studied. Mar–Aug, mainly May and Jun. Male has high, undulating, sustained song flight, flies in random “circles”, alternating quick wingbeats with short glides on spread and slightly raised wings and spread tail. Nest a cup of grass, sometimes domed, in depression on ground. Clutch 3–4 eggs; incubation and fledging periods not documented.

Not globally threatened. Widespread and locally common throughout range. No population estimates.