and direct display flight and clap its wings above its back. Perched males may also string together fragments of the songs of various grassland birds. It utters peewit, tweekiree or pree, pree notes in alarm. Breeding The male will courtship feed the female to reinforce their pair-bond or to secure a mating opportunity. The nest is a well concealed cup of dry grass that is positioned in a deep scrape at the base of a grass tuft or against a shrub. A flimsy or substantial grass dome (typical of Mirafra and related genera) covers the nest while leaving a front entrance. The cup is lined with finer plant material, and 2 to 3 (rarely 4) eggs are laid. The eggs are white, cream or pink in colour, and speckled brown and grey, especially near the blunter end. The chicks have bright yellow gapes, three black tongue spots, and a spot near the tip of the lower mandible. They are covered in pale grey to buff down, and are brooded by the female only. The incubation period is about 14 to 15 days, and singing by the male decreases as incubation commences. The young are fed by both parents, though mainly by the female. Surviving chicks leave the nest after about 12 days, before they are able to fly. Post-breeding moult has been recorded in mid December in Botswana and from July to August in Kenya. Food and feeding It forages at the bases of grass tufts, on bare ground including cultivated lands and fallow fields, and between ungulate droppings. It may also catch termite alates in the air or as they emerge from termitaria, or glean insects from plants. Food includes insects of various groups, spiders, solifugids, millipedes, earthworms, and in winter some seeds of grasses and forbs. It may forage in burnt grassland immediately after fires. Gallery References External links Rufous-naped lark, sound recordings, xeno-canto rufous-naped lark Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa rufous-naped lark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot