Skylarking refers to the aerial displays including song made by various species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s, such as

Cassin's sparrow Cassin's sparrow (''Peucaea cassinii'') is a medium-sized American sparrow, sparrow. This passerine bird's range is from western Nebraska to north-central Mexico. Taxonomy The first Cassin's sparrow was described in 1852 by Samuel Washington Wo ...

(Peterson 1990). Many skylarking

display Display may refer to: Technology * Display device, output device for presenting information, including: ** Cathode ray tube, video display that provides a quality picture, but can be very heavy and deep ** Electronic visual display, output devi ...

s are in courtship. Some are referred to as territorial displays by the male. There are some instances in which birdwatchers claim that skylarking has been used by male birds to avoid predators; the objective being that the predator will mistake the prey for another type of bird and end the pursuit. This survival tactic rarely works.

References

* Birds Bird behavior {{ethology-stub