(162) SOME NOTES ON THE CRESTED LARK BY JOHN H. BARRETT, P. J. CONDER AND A. J. B. THOMPSON. FROM the summer of 1940 until May 1945 we were in various prison camps scattered over Germany and Poland. For most of the time two of us were together. In 1946 one of us was for a short time again in Germany. Crested Larks (Galerida c. cristata) were seen wherever we stayed and often bred within a hundred yards of us, but always outside the wire. So in each succeeding year we were able to see but little of their breeding behaviour. Add to this repeated disappointment the necessity for carrying food and not mountainous piles of bird notes when we were set marching in the last winter and it will be understood why so few written notes survive. From them and from those written in a more sympathetic atmosphere in the early summer of 1946 we have compiled the following paragraphs. CALLS. The commonest call is one we christened "God save the Queen." This is written by Niethammer (1937) as "tritritrieh" and in The Handbook (1938) "whee-whee-wheeoo." The third note is relatively unaccented and the fourth higher pitched than the others, though trailing away slightly. The notes have an undefinable sibilant quality which none of the three representations suggests. The rhythm of the call is exactly represented by the words we use. Variations are common, particularly the omission of the first note. The call is heard throughout the year but least of all in winter, with peak periods from March to May and from August to October. During the spring peak there is much chasing, and neighbouring males seem to use the phrase in calling contests to advertise the possession of territory. At other times there appears to be no challenge connotation. Parties when feeding often iise the call to an extent proportional to their dispersal. The calls from an individual may lead to a sustained loud chorus by the party. Two birds that were feeding side by side and have become separated often give call for call. The quality of the calls varies. When sex-chasing or chasing intruders or food rivals the notes are very shrill and loud ; but when a few birds are feeding together the calls are soft and sweet. When one calls excitedly the calls of all react similarly. After an alarm the alarm calls are succeeded by "God save the Queen," shrill at first but gradually softening to silence. When calling this note shrilly on the ground the bird is alert, standing erect with crest fully raised; but when the softer version intervenes the body feathers are more puffed out as the bird relaxes. The normal alarm call is a soft pure-toned whistle, best written "hooeee." To the human ear there is nothing to suggest haste or anxiety. It is a slow long note increasing in pitch at the end. It is usually delivered from the ground, the bird crouching low with VOL. XLI.] NOTES ON THE CRESTED LARK. 163 depressed crest, which is nearly always the attitude before the bird flies. Individuals and parties use the call throughout the year, but in August it becomes markedly common. A third call was "seeee eep," well imitated by whistling softly through the teeth to attract attention. It is shrill and confined to those brief periods when juveniles are first roaming in parties away from the nest. We thought that this may be a purely juvenile note and that the increase in "hooeees" in August represents a variation of "seeee eep" by the young birds and that both combined to develop into "God save the Queen." Another distinct call is "seeoo." This is also a shrill whistle and is heard only in March and the first half of April when chasing is at a maximum. It was noisiest and shrillest when several birds were excitedly skirmishing on the ground or in the air. Lastly, we separated a strange "chirrup" call which defies description. It may be the "single guinea-pig-like note" mentioned by Alexander (1927) and quoted in The Handbook. We thought it was bisyllabic. It is loud and very forced and has a certain sparrow-like quality. Heard only in March and only in the early morning it seemed to imply challenge, two birds often shrieking this note against one another. SONG. Fig. 1 is a song chart using the same notation as in The Handbook and including Alexander's Central Italy findings for comparison. Figure I. Jan. Feb. Mar, Apr. May. June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Unbroken line—regular song. Dashes—irregular but fairly frequent song. Dots—exceptional song or sub-song. The song can be divided into two types, full loud song and soft song. Soft song, which may be sub-song, was heard only on the ground or a perch. The beak was closed, a point frequently checked throughout the season. It consisted of a string of alarm-type "hooeee" calls, which sometimes resembled a Woodlark's (Luttula a. arborea) calls, with variations of the "God save the Queen" phrase, intermingled with series of trills like a Linnet {Carduelis c. cannabina) and very typical lark "chirraees," sometimes grating and sometimes sweet. This rambling soft song continued for long periods while the birds were feeding, and ceased only for an instant when they pecked. On sunny winter days a bird would sing like this on the leeward side of a fence or when perched against warm chimney bricks. The amount of song increased in March and then seemed to be a tuning-up for full song. In late March, when bad weather lessened loud song, there was a reversion to soft song. 164 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XLI.

When full song was at a maximum soft song was fragmentary. During September and October soft song was heard relatively less frequently than in spring. Full and lound song either on the wing or on the ground is in some respects intermediate between Skylark's (Alauda a. arvensis) and Woodlark's. It has not the vehemence of the former's and is not so continuous, but it is more coherent than the latter's, though not so mellow. It is silvery in quality. The constituent parts are short trills almost exactly like a Woodlark's, phrases like a typical Skylark's, a few odd twittering notes and softened "God save the Queen" calls. The parts are run together, mixed up and come flowing out in a way not inferior to most Skylarks. Though other observers would not agree we think the effect is no more and no less monotonous than a Skylark and very, very little inferior. Loud song from the ground or from a perch was identical to loud song on the wing and was usually a prelude to it. It was commonest early in the season when song on the wing became regular. The Handbook states that it sings "frequently on the ground,—less commonly on the wing" and "has no soaring song-flight like a Skylark." An inference from the quotations that there is no sustained song while on the wing would be wrong. From 1940 to 1946 we heard them in many camps widely distributed in Germany and Poland. Everywhere song-flight was common,, though no evidence written at the time is available except for 1944 from Lower Silesia. Figure 2 shows the number of days in 1944 on which the varieties of song were heard. Since the majority of observers appear to agree that non-aerial song is more regular than song in the air, it is possible that there is some local variation in this respect. Of course, more than one kind of song may be heard on one day. Full and loud song on the wing is usually at about one hundred to two hundred feet. The height of a single bout of song remains more or less constant. As a rule the birds do not circle up but climb directly and usually silently. The wing movement when singing is slower than a Skylark's, more of a shuffle than vibration. The bird circles slowly over a small area, frequently hovering into wind, singing all the while. At the end of its performance the Crested Lark ceases singing and dives steeply downwards with half closed wings and silently, though singing may be at once resumed from the ground. The Skylark, as is well known, sings while climbing up and during the descent, still singing, it parachutes downwards on stiff quivering wings, and dives steeply only for the last twenty to fifty feet. Crested Larks imitate other songs and calls. Probably those short passages in its song which are indistinguishable from parts of the song of the Skylark and Linnet are not imitations. They are so common and the emphasis so subtly shaded that we thought of them as variations on a theme. Imitations commonly heard were VOL. XLI.] NOTES ON THE CRESTED LARK. 165

FIGURE 2. No. of days on which were heard Soft song Loud song Loud song nothing but on the ground. in air loud songt in air. Jan. 1 Feb. 11 1 March 23 10 14 April 6 15 24 3 May 10 9 25 9 June 1 17 16 July 1 4 13 10 August 5 Sept. 3 3 12 7 Oct. 8 5 21 10 Nov. 2 1 Dec. 2 Totals 68 52 117 55 the normal "chissic" call and the "chi-chirrichirrichissick" song of the White Wagtail (Motacilla a. alba); the chattering of song from a flock of Tree-Sparrows (Passer m. montanus) and, at another place, of House-Sparrows (Passer d. domesticus). Also we heard the song of the Black Redstart (Phcenicurus ochrurus gibraltariensis), eight days before that species arrived in the area ; the call of a Partridge (Perdix p. perdix); the song of a Siskin (Carduelis spinus); Great Tit (Parus m. major), and Common Whitethroat (Sylvia c. communis). These imitations were in full song either in the air or on the ground. "Belling" of a Greenfinch (Chloris ch. chloris) and the "p'tchoo" call of a Marsh-Tit (Parus palustris) were heard several times during soft song. DISPLAY AND COURTSHIP. We have said why we saw so little of breeding behaviour, but the following patterns do not seem to have been described elsewhere. With crest fully raised and tail held at forty-five degrees upwards, head settled back on its shoulders, all body feathers puffed out and wings depressed with one half open and the other extended its full length towards the female, the male, singing loudly, danced round and round the female with light buoyant hops. When he turned round the wing attitudes were reversed, thus continuing to show off the plumage pattern. The female crouched silently, but showed no other reaction. Another kind of display was seen but once, in early autumn. It has something in common with the attack attitude described by Hartley (1946). The male sang full loud song on the ground. His wings were half open and held away from his sides, drooping towards the tips and vibrating very fast. The tail was held up­ wards at forty-five degrees and the crest was fully erect. He ran 166 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XLI.

to the edge of a small hole where the second bird was and showed off his pale flanks by a sideways shuffling back and forwards for thirty seconds. When the second moved away the male flew to a roof and continued to sing loudly with back and rump feathers ruffled up. In the early days of courtship there was another pattern reminis­ cent of a game of hide-and-seek. The female flies away from the male and drops behind a heap of stones, there crouching as if on a nest. The male stands in an erect posture with head held high, wings slightly raised and held away from the body. He apparently looks round for the female, calls loudly "chu chi chu" (the common variety of "God save the Queen" that omits the first note) and begins to wander "undecidedly." The female partly rises and walks up the stones, still maintaining a crouched attitude. But the male does not appear to see her, until suddenly he is all attention, and the—anti-climax—he either feeds or pretends to feed, and, losing the stiffness of his posture, flies away still calling. The female remains crouching and feeding. Some very slender evidence suggests a ritual of nest-site selection. The male walks into low scrub, calling vigorously. He stops and slowly crouches and then, with tail spread and depressed, bows several times towards the female, who is a foot away outside the bushes. She may crouch and pick up a piece of grass, only to drop it. When the male comes out she may follow him into other bushes and the bowing is repeated. A very common threat attitude was a crouched position with wings half spread and head thrust forward. The threatened bird frequently depresses its crest. This was particularly associated with feeding squabbles.

REFERENCES. ALEXANDER, H. G. (1927). The Birds of Latium, Italy. Compiled from notes and letters of the late C. J. Alexander. Ibis, 1927, pp. 245-283. NIETHAMMER, G. (1937). Handbuch der deutschen Vogelkunde, Vol. 1, Leipzig. HARTLEY, P. H. T. (1946). Notes on the Breeding Biology of the Crested Lark. Brit. Birds, Vol. xxxix, pp. 142-144. TUCKER, B. W. (1938). In Witherby et al., The Handbook of British Birds, Vol. 1, London.