316 ' Pictures of Bird Life 



about four feet lont^* ; and tlie egg-cliamber — for they make no 

 nest, but lay four roiuid, sliinino* wliite eggs on the earth at 

 the end of the hole — was generally about two feet below the 

 surface. The holes may be easily found by tlie lieap of freslily 

 excavated soil at tlie entrance, from the amoimt of whicli 

 a rough guess may be made of the length of the hole, and 

 whetlier it is wortli digging out. Three or four of the 

 birds were caught in tlie burrows : two I released ; tlie others, 

 on dissection, proved to be males. 



Encircled by the shallow water of the marismas are 

 mmierous small islets, on which grow sometimes a scanty crop 

 of thistles and samphire. To these desolate spots in the 

 month of INIay myriads of wading-birds resort to lay their 

 eggs on the baked and sun-dried mud. In such places tlie 

 Pratincoles deposit their curiously coloured eggs under a tuft 

 of samphire or in the footprint of some horse or ox. They 

 are ^'ery roimded, and thickly spotted with rich, dark markings, 

 and have an almost velvety appearance, which makes them 

 utterly unlike the eggs of any other bird. There is no 

 attempt at any nest. 



These birds ha\'e a habit of settling on the ground in 

 front of anybody. AA'hile riding, I have known twenty or 

 thirty of them to settle repeatedly in front of my horse, 

 rising with a strange cry on a close approach, and settling 

 again farther on, and repeating the performance over and over 

 again. On the dried mud they are practically invisible, unless 

 the white chest can be seen, for tlie upper parts are the exact 

 colour of the ground. The gape of the mouth is a bright sealing- 



