Fringilla bicolor J. K. Townsend, 1837 The lark bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys) is a medium-sized American sparrow native to central and western North America.

Breeding males have an all black body with a large white patch on the upper part of the wing.

[4] Measurements:[5] The lark bunting is the most prevalent of the passerine species found in the grasslands of North America.

These birds migrate in flocks to winter southern Texas, Arizona and the high plateau of northern Mexico in the fall.

Social pairing success was measured as well as total annual fitness, finding female choice as the primary factor.

These dramatic fluctuations highlight the importance of looking at sexual selection patterns over an extended period of time before drawing any conclusions.

By looking at short time periods, however, it possible to identify female preference annually, however it is difficult to make any extrapolations for these assessments.

[7] An additional consequence of variation of female choice annually is the potential elimination of phenotypic selection for male trait exaggeration.