GLAREOLA. PRATINCOLE. 47 



Nostrils basal, lateral, oblong, oblique. Eyes large ; upper 

 eyelids feathered, lower bare. Aperture of ear rather large. 

 Legs of moderate length, very slender ; tibia bare at its lower 

 part, not at all " feathered to the knee " as M. Temmniek 

 alleges ; tarsus moderate, slender, reticulated ; hind toe very 

 small, a little elevated ; lateral toes very short, the outer a 

 little longer, the middle toe much exceeding the rest, and 

 connected with the outer by a basal membrane. Claws 

 slender, slightly arched, compressed, acute ; that of the middle 

 toe very long, with the inner edge thin, and somewhat 

 pectinate. 



Plumage moderate, soft, rather compact ; the feathers 

 ovate or elliptical ; those on the fore part of the head mode- 

 rate. Wings very long, narrow, taper-pointed, very similar 

 in their digital part to those of the Swallows, but differing 

 in the cubital portion ; the quills twenty-five ; primaries 

 tapering, very long, stiff; the first longest, the rest rapidly 

 decreasing ; outer secondaries incurvate, broad, obliquely 

 emarginate ; inner moderately elongated. Tail rather long, 

 forked, of twelve feathers. 



The Pratincoles, of which only a few species are known, 

 are inhabitants of Africa and the warmer regions of Asia, the 

 Indian Islands, and Australia. One species is also exten- 

 sively distributed in the southern and eastern parts of Europe, 

 and sometimes makes its way even to England. They are 

 said to run with great celerity, fly with extreme rapidity, 

 feed on insects and aquatic worms, and reside in marshy 

 places, and by the sides of lakes and rivers. 



Authors are far from being agreed as to the systematic 

 location of this genus. " It will be observed," says Montagu, 

 " that Linnaeus placed this bird with his Hirundines, to 

 which, in some particulars, it has considerable affinity, though 

 its bill and legs certainly constitute characters sufficiently 

 distinct to remove it from thence ; but why it has been taken 

 from the land division, and placed amongst the water birds, 

 we are* unable to discover." " The continuator of Shaw's 

 Zoology,'''' M. Temminck remarks, " says that the pratincoles 

 or glareolse have not the slightest affinity to the water or 

 river birds, but that they are more related to the swallows ; 



