Scientific name: Melanocorypha yeltoniensis (Forster, 1767)
Bird group: Larks
Field characters. 19-21 cm. Largest European lark. Male in summer plumage black with horn-coloured bill. Feathers in fresh plumage with buff fringes; crown, sides of chest and flanks look scaled, back and rump may even look buff. Female smaller and much paler than male; wings and tail black-brown; underparts buff-white. Resembles Calandra Lark, but more heavily streaked with dusky crown, lacks white trailing edge to wing, and legs dark.
Voice. Call a short trill. Song with trills and twitters, also mimics; higher pitched and less structured than Common Skylark.
Distribution. Locally abundant within restricted range; declining.
Habitat. Steppes with short grass, usually in the vicinity of freshwater or saline wetlands.
Food. Insects and seeds.