Lofiisf Binlii in the I'mmtraal. (5 1 



fly and whirl round and round, rising higher and higher till 

 the swarm looks like an immense dust-cloud drawn up sky- 

 wards. During this exercise they always move forward till 

 some swarm o£ locusts is sighted, and then the birds break 

 away like a storm-swept cloud breaking into tatters. When 

 they reach the swarm they attack from behind, flying and 

 darting through the insects, a shower of wings and legs of 

 the locusts and droppings of the birds falling to the ground 

 like rain. 



The beak of " Glareola " is constructed to fit the flying 

 locust, the wings and hind legs are snapped off and fall down. 

 Dr. Brehm (' Vogel,' p. 87) quotes some Glar'eola melanoptera 

 which were kept in captivity, and which became very tame ; 

 they took locusts very greedily out of the hand, but killed 

 them first with their beak and swallowed them in bits. This 

 seems to prove the fact that it is easier for them to take this 

 insect with the wings spread, which would be the natui-al 

 position during flight. I could not find reports of Glareola 

 melanogaster breeding in South Africa. Dr. Saunder mentions 

 on p. 295 of the 'Agricultural Journal,' Capetown, 1898, xii. 

 p. 287, " The Small Locust Bird,'' that Barrow saw nests in 

 trees resembling Vultures' nests. This is very likely a 

 mistake, as the Glareola always breeds on the ground ; what 

 he means is evidently Dilophus carunculatus, Brehm ; and 

 Reichenow says that Greece, the marshes of the Danube, and 

 Southern and Central Asia are their favourite breeding- 

 grounds. A few months ago I read in a sporting paper that 

 large quantities are shot every year in Hungary for food, 

 and Brehm also relates that the eggs are considered a delicacy 

 in Greece. This Glareola and G. fusca were known to the 

 old Egyi^tians and considered sacred, because they supplied 

 food. Ptah Hotep is reported to have slain 111,000. Their 

 images appear often in hieroglyphics (Brehm, v. p. 87). 



Glareola fusca (6r. pratincola^ Layard, Birds S. A.), which 

 also visits South Africa in large flocks, differs from G. melano- 

 gasterhy the more brownish rusty colour. Sharpe, in Layard's 

 ' Birds of South Africa,' says on p. &f)2, "The G. pratinrola 

 may be distinguished by the chestnut colouring of the under 



