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Larks, or the family Alaudidae, are small- to medium-sized birds, 12 to 24 cm (4.7 to 9.4 in) in length and 15 to 75 g (0.5 to 2.6 oz) in mass. [14] The smallest larks are likely the Spizocorys species, which can weigh only around 14 g (0.49 oz) in species like the pink-billed lark and the Obbia lark , while the largest lark is the Tibetan lark .
Depiction of a larrikin, from Nelson P. Whitelocke's book A Walk in Sydney Streets on the Shady Side (1885). Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good-hearted person", or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions".
The family Threskiornithidae includes 36 species of large wading birds. The family has been traditionally classified into two subfamilies, the ibises and the spoonbills; however recent genetic studies have cast doubt on this arrangement, and have found the spoonbills to be nested within the Old World ibises, and the New World ibises as an early offshoot.
The bird is the subject of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley (To a Skylark), George Meredith (The Lark Ascending), Ted Hughes (Skylarks), and numerous others; and of pieces of music including The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams (inspired by the eponymous poem). It is also the bird emblem of Kumamoto Prefecture. [30]
In June 2009, Larrikin Music sued the band Men at Work for copyright infringement, alleging that part of the flute riff of the band's 1981 single "Down Under" was copied from "Kookaburra". This action followed an episode of Spicks and Specks where this usage was the basis of a panel question. [ 4 ]
The birds typically nest in dispersed colonies. Males fly up over their territory and sing while descending to declare ownership of a nesting territory. The song consists of a mix of whistles and trills. The call is a soft hoo. The nest is an open cup on the ground in a grassy area. [3]
The European serin is a small short-tailed bird, 11–12 cm in length. The upper parts are dark-streaked greyish green, with a yellow rump. The yellow breast and white belly are also heavily streaked. The male has a brighter yellow face and breast, yellow wing bars and yellow tail sides.
Most passerine birds have 12 tail feathers but the superb lyrebird has 16, [15] and several spinetails in the family Furnariidae have 10, 8, or even 6, as is the case of Des Murs's wiretail. Species adapted to tree trunk climbing such as treecreepers and woodcreeper have stiff tail feathers that are used as props during climbing. [ 16 ]