The lark is a representative bird of the grassland and is a small songbird. The lark has a beautiful feather crest on its head, a small and conical beak, and some species are long and slightly curved. On the vast prairie, under the blue sky and white clouds, the green grass is endless, under the sky, often One after another, the beautiful music that even musicians can't compose is played one after another, that is, the love song sung by the larks. When the larks fly from the ground, they often fly and sing. Because it flies very high, people often only hear its sound and disappear. The lark has now been listed as a national second-class protected animal. After millions of years of co-evolution, larks and grasslands have acquired various characteristics suitable for survival in open grasslands. They generally start mating in late March, chirping on the ground, and choosing a nesting area. Both male and female birds dance, often volleying straight up into the sky, hovering in the sky above tens of meters. The singing stopped, and it suddenly fell vertically. When it was close to the ground, it flew upwards and sang again.

Chinese name: Lark

Kingdom: Animal Kingdom

Class: Birds

Category: Palinaceae

species: lark

Distribution area: Mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Qinghai

phylum: Chordate

Order: Passerine

Genus: Lark

Subphylum: Vertebrate subphylum

Larks are small when they are adults, 190mm long and weigh about 30g. The chestnut-red forehead is a characteristic of male larks. Its head and nape also have the same color as the forehead, and the white and brown fur around the eyebrows and eye sockets is even more attractive. Its eyebrows are the most characteristic, and the eyebrow lines grow all the way to the pillow. The back and waist of the lark are mainly chestnut brown, the outer wing feathers are dark brown, and the tail edge, which is mainly chestnut brown, is slightly whitish. There are two symmetrical dark stripes on the chest that join just above the chest. There are white feathers on the forehead and throat, which complement the brown-white coat below the body.

Female larks are nearly identical in body color to males, however, females have less chestnut-red hair on the forehead and neck than males, and have less plumage on their bodies. It is close to light brown, and the two black stripes on the chest are not as obvious as the male lark. The color of the mouth is khaki, and the toes of the feet are fleshy pink. Its claws are different from ordinary birds, especially the hind paws, which are larger than those of ordinary birds, and extend straight to the rear. The color of the paws is brown.  

The lark has a beautiful crest on its head, a small, conical bill, and some species are long and slightly curved. The nostrils are often covered with hanging feathers. The wings are slightly pointed and long, the tail is shorter than that of the wings, the rear edge of the tarsus is blunt, with shield-like scales, and the hind paws are long and straight. Common species in China include Shabailing, Lark, Horned Bailing, Xiaosha Bailing, Ban Bailing, Ge Bailing and Mongolian Bailing. Sha Bailing and Skylark can rise from the ground and go straight to the sky, maintaining the balance of up, down, front and back forces in the air, and hovering at a point to sing. The horned lark often runs quietly on the ground, or stands on a high place to peek at the surrounding movements, and its actions are more secretive. The crested lark gets its name from the feather crown composed of a cluster of black long feathers that stand upright into a single horn on the top of its head. Females are also not as easily startled as other birds when they are brooding.

Lark A medium-sized (16 cm) dark lark. Unique head pattern. The male has a thick black thorax, a black and white (or yellow) pattern on the face, and a black stripe on the front of the crest extending back into a characteristic small "horn". The upper body is almost pure dark brown; the rest of the lower body is white, with some brown longitudinal stripes on the flanks. Females and juveniles are dark in color (and have no "horns"), but head patterns are still visible. White under the wings in flight.

Wild larks live on the vast grasslands of northern China. When it flies freely, it can go straight into the sky, chirping while flying, and its graceful flight posture is envied by other birds. Larks also like to walk on the ground. In summer, under the scorching sun, when the ground is higher than 30 degrees Celsius, the lark can also live freely. In winter, after the surface is covered with heavy snow, larks also have to do short group migrations in order to find food to fill their stomachs. However, most of the time, they still like to live in the desolate prairie, shuttle between the sand and grass. In order to maintain their body temperature, they rub on the sand, which can not only prevent heatstroke and cool down, but also brush its hair to keep the body surface clean.

Larks are not very demanding on food. In spring, they eat some young grass sprouts and some insects. In summer and fall, they catch some insects to eat. In winter, they eat only grass seeds and grains to fill their stomachs, and sometimes get some insects and eggs by accident. The lark will not destroy crops. When the summer just comes, when they are still raising young birds, the lark will catch a lot of bugs to feed the young birds, so as to eliminate the damage to the growth of crops, which is indispensable in the production area. beneficial bird.

Plays on arid mountains, deserts, grasslands or rocks, and lives in groups during non-breeding periods, often flying or running low for short distances, feeding on insects and grass seeds. The breeding season is from May to July, and it nests on the ground at the base of the grass. Each nest lays 4 to 5 eggs. The eggs are light brown or nearly white with brown fine spots.

Feed

The main food for adult lark is eggs and rice. In addition to the main feed, larks also require supplementary animal feed. The supplementary animal feed for caged lark is very extensive, almost all insects can be fed, among which the most commonly fed are the following: locusts, mealworms, oil gourds, young cicadas, Spiders, as well as mole crickets and pine caterpillar larvae, and more.

Most of the young larks use mung bean noodles as the main feed. Mung bean noodles have high nutritional value. Each hectogram contains 22.1 grams of protein, 59 grams of carbohydrates, 49 mg of calcium, 26.8 mg of phosphorus, 3.2 mg of iron, and 0.22 mg of carotene. Others such as vitamins are also rich in content. Moreover, mung bean noodles are easy to digest, especially according to Chinese medicine, mung bean belongs to yin, which can eliminate fire and stop poisoning. Therefore, mung bean noodles are the most ideal feed for feeding chicks.

What should be paid attention to when raising larks Do not feed the birds unclean food, drink stale water, and do not let the birds and sick birds or those with parasites Birds approaching, do not always keep birds in one place, do not lay unclean sand or damp sand on the bottom of the cage, do not let the lark get rained, do not get too close to other birds when the bird is lit, do not make it nutritious Not comprehensive, don't die of illness, don't keep birds in the house for a long time without fresh air.

Management and tuning

The drinking water tank should be deep and not large, and most of them are semi-cylindrical or inverted pyramid. The flat side is close to the bottom ring of the cage, and food and water are added every 1 or 2 days. The sand at the bottom of the cage should be fine and uniform, keep it clean and dry, and replace it once or twice a week (in summer). Usually, iron wire or bamboo sticks can be used to clip the feces out. Covering is generally not required, but it is required when walking the bird or letting it learn to sing from other birds. In order to make the lark chirping under the lights at night, it should be covered during the day. There are many mosquitoes in the south in summer, so it is necessary to cover it at night to prevent mosquito bites.

For domestication, animal baits such as insect larvae, locusts, and grasshoppers should be fed by hand. In order to cultivate the habit of birds singing on the stage, a cardboard shell ring can be placed outside the ringing platform, slightly higher than the bottom ring of the cage, and the dung stick is often used to poke its feet to let it come on stage, or it is often fed on the ringing platform". Live food".

Cultivating lark calls can be hard work. The fluff of the young bird is gone. The throat of the male bird is often agitated, making a small dripping sound. (commonly known as "zipper"). It's time to let it learn to call. It is easiest to use a successful old bird "bring", and you can also go to the natural world to "sip" or ask "teacher bird". Some use the method of playing the recording, but sometimes the sound is distorted and needs to be corrected in the field or by other birds.

Bailing's "calling", China pays attention to "thirteen sets", that is, learn the sounds of thirteen birds, beasts, and insects. However, the content and order of these "thirteen sets" vary from place to place. In the south, caged larks are allowed to have thrushes, but they are taboo in the north. The basic call of the caged lark in the north should have the call of the red (swamp tit), but it is not required in the south. The so-called "thirteen sets of larks" in the north usually start with a sparrow call, a hen quacks, a cat calls, a sand swallow or a swift, a dog bark, a magpie (gray magpie or magpie), red, oil fenugreek (a large crickets), the whistling of kites, the sound of small axles, the ringing of water-tip bells, the great reed warbler, and the ending of tiger shrike.

The above feeding and training methods apply to all larks. If you only want to listen to the tweets, you can raise and train local species.

Feeding of young birds

Most of the larks in domestic cages are artificially fed by capturing young birds from the wild grass. The captured young birds will not eat by themselves, and only after more than 20 days of artificial fine feeding will they peck on their own. The main food is bean noodles and eggs, which need to be carefully processed. The practice is: fry mung beans or peas until half-cooked, grind them into fine noodles, add 6-8 eggs per catty of noodles, mix evenly and dry them, but avoid mold. When feeding the birds, mix an appropriate amount of egg noodles with water and knead them into strips, 1-2 large mouthfuls each time, 6-8 times a day. When the young birds peck, put the prepared paste feed into the food bowl. No water should be given during this time. After 3 months, change to egg rice (usually mix 5 eggs per 500 grams of millet, mix thoroughly, dry in the shade, and then rub it), and give enough water. In order to adapt to the wild habits of the lark, the cage should be covered with 2-3 cm thick fine sand or dry loess, and some insects should be continuously fed to adjust the diet.