2 GLAREOLID^. 



G. melanoptera, which has black — instead of chestnut — under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries, with no white alar bar. Both of these forms (as well as one that is 

 intermediate) are found in Asia, especially on salt-plains, as far east as the Tian- 

 Shan range ; and both occur in South Africa down to Natal in the cold season. 

 There are several other members of the family in the Ethiopian, Indian, and East 

 Australian regions, but none are known in the New World." 



Mr. O. Salvin, who met with the Pratincole during a tour through the 

 Regency of Tunis and Eastern Algeria, from February to July 1857, writes * : — 

 " The Pratincole was found in the table-lands of the interior, frequenting the salt 

 lakes and freshwater marshes. Its fearless manner and familiar habits cause it to 

 rank high among the interesting birds of the country ; and I remember few that 

 I have watched with greater pleasure. When in proximity to their nests, the 

 whole flock come wheeling and screaming round, while some dart passionately 

 down to within a few feet of the intruder's head, retiring again to make another 

 descent. When the first transports of excitement are over, they all alight one by 

 one on the ground. Some stand quite still, watching with inquiring gaze ; while 

 others stretch themselves out, first expanding one wing, then the other, and 

 sitting down extend both legs. In this position they remain some seconds as if 

 dead, when, suddenly springing up, they make another circuit over head, and the 

 whole flock passes qviietly away. The bird makes no nest, but deposits its three 

 eggs in a slight depression of the bare sand. The eggs are usually placed with 

 their axes parallel. We several times visited places where numbers of these birds 

 were breeding ; yet we never succeeded in finding a young one, though many of 

 the eggs were on the point of being hatched. This fact certainly favours the 

 idea that on leaving the egg the young are capable of running like those of other 

 Gralker 



The late Mr. H. Seebohm gives the following account of the breeding habits 

 of this species f : — " I found the Pratincole breeding in considerable numbers on 

 the islands in the lagoons of Missolonghi in 1873, and in a precisely similar locality 

 a little to the north of the entrance to the Gulf of Smyrna in 1872. In the 

 former locality I found plenty of fresh eggs in the last week of May ; and in the 

 latter most of the eggs were almost ready to hatch in the second week of June. 

 At Missolonghi the birds Avere wild, flying round us uttering their peculiar cry 

 before we landed on the islands. In Asia Minor, on the other hand, they were 

 evidently sitting hard, and allowed us to land and approach them before they left 

 their nests. They then evidently attempted to lure us away from their treasures 



* " Five months' Birds'-nesting in the Eastern Atlas," ' Ibis,' 1859, pp. 354, 355. 

 t ' History of Britisli Birds,' vol. iii. pp. 71, 72. 



