The Rufous-winged Bush Lark (Mirafra assamica) is a small passerine

Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

.

Description

It is short-tailed and has a strong stout bill. In size it is not as long as the Skylark

Skylark

The Skylark is a small passerine bird species. This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range,...

, measuring about 15 centimeters. (See below for more.)

Range and population

It is a resident breeder in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n subcontinent and southeast Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 100,000-1,000,000 square km.

Habits and habitat

The Rufous-winged Bush Lark is a common bird of dry, open, stony country often with sparse shrubbery, and cultivated areas. It nests on the ground, laying three or four speckled egg

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

s. This lark

Lark

Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. All species occur in the Old World, and in northern and eastern Australia; only one, the Shore Lark, has spread to North America, where it is called the Horned Lark...

 feeds primarily on seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

s and insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s, especially the latter during the breeding season.

Taxonomic changes

The differences within the genus Mirafra are often very subtle and confusing with many differences apparent only when specimens are examined in hand.

The Rufous-winged Bushlark was earlier classified into several races, the Bengal race assamica and the Madras race affinis. These were subsequently split, on the basis of diagnostic song and display characters, into the Jerdon's Bushlark

Jerdon's Bushlark

The Jerdon's Bushlark is a lark of the open countryside found in southern India. This species was earlier considered a subspecies of the Rufous-winged Bushlark . However recent studies of differences in call and distribution have led to it being treated as a full species.-Description:M...

(Mirafra affinis) and assamica in the strict sense. Mirafra (assamica) assamica is dark-streaked grey above, and buff below, with spotting on the breast and behind the eye. The wings are rufous. Jerdon's Bushlark has paler, greyish-brown underparts. The song of Jerdon's Bushlark is a dry rattle given from its perch, while that of M. (a.) assamica is a repetition of thin disyllabic notes, delivered in a song-flight.