COMMON PRATINCOLE. 69 



GLAREOLA PRATINCOLA. 

 COMMON PRATINCOLE. 



(Plate 24.) 



Glareola glareola, j r p. 141 (1760, adult). 



Glareola torqiiata, > Briss. Orn. v. I p. 145 (1700, immature). 



Glareola nfevia, I 1 p. 147 (17G0, young), 



Ilirundo pratincola, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 345 (17G6) ; et auctorum plurimorum — 



{Schlegel), {Gould), {Rilppell), {Finsch), {Gray), {Salvadori), {Shelley), {Saunders), 



&e. 

 Trachelia pratincola {Lvm.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 110 (1769). 

 Glareola austriaca, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 695 (1788). 



Glareola pratincola {Linn.), Leach, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 131, pi. xii. (1820). 

 Pratincola glareola {Briss.), Deyl. Orn. Ear. ii. p. 107 (1843). 

 Glareola limbata, Rilpp. Syst. Uehers. p. 113, pi. 43 (1845). 



In 1813 Graves, in liis '^ British Ornithology^ (vol. ii.), recorded and 

 figured the first example of the Pratincole which was obtained in the 

 British Islands. He states that it was shot near Ormskirk in Lancashire 

 in October 1809 ; but Bullock, into whose possession the specimen passed, 

 writes (Trans. Linn. Soc. 1815, xi. p. 177) that it was in 1807 that it 

 was obtained. Graves mentions three other examples, viz. one near Bold- 

 ness in Cumberland in 1807, one near Truro in Cornwall in September 1811, 

 and another on the Eude Waters on the Duke of Norfolk's estate in Surrey 

 previous to 1813. Since this date about a score examples of the Pratin- 

 cole have been obtained, principally in the south and east of England. 

 Only one example has been recorded from Scotland, which was killed on 

 Unst, one of the Shetland Islands, on the 16th of August, 1812 (Bullock, 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. 1815, xi. p. 177). A single example has been recorded 

 from Ireland, which was shot at Castlefreke in co. Cork in October, some 

 years previous to 1843 (Harvey, 'Fauna of Cork,^ p. 11). Nearly all of 

 the occurrences have taken place in spring or autumn. 



The Pratincole is a regular summer visitor to the basin of the Mediter- 

 ranean, Spain, and the valley of the Lower Danube. North of these limits 

 it is an accidental visitor to North France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, 

 and Denmark. It winters in Africa south of the Sahara, and has been found 

 in the west as far south as Damara Land, and in the east as far as Natal. 

 Eastwards its range extends through the basin of the Black Sea and the 

 Caucasian steppes to Turkestan, where it was obtained by Finsch as far 

 east as Ala-Kul, Afghanistan, and the valley of the Indus. From this 

 latter locality, westwards as far as the river Don, a nearly allied species. 



