Thick-billed Lark

The thick-billed lark (Ramphocoris clotbey) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae native to north Africa and the far southwest of Asia, in the northern Sahara and Arabian Deserts. == Taxonomy and systematics == It was named after Bey Antoine Clot. Charles Lucien Bonaparte originally described it in the genus Melanocorypha, but later the same year he described the new monotypic genus Ramphocoris for it, in which it is still placed. The species is monotypic, with no subspecies described. Its closest relatives are the larks in the genus Ammomanes; these differ in plainer sandy-brown plumage and slender bills. Despite sharing stout bill structure, the larks in the genera Eremopterix and Melanocorypha are less closely related. == Distribution and habitat == It is found in the northern Sahara Desert south of the Atlas Mountains, from Western Sahara and northern Mauritania through southern Morocco, central Algeria and southern Tunisia to Libya, also in central regions of the Arabian Peninsula north to Jordan, and more rarely in southern Syria. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical arid hot deserts. == Description == It is a large, stoutly-built lark, 17–18 cm long, with males weighing 52–55 g and females 45 g. The…