Their Eggs and Nests. i6i 



FAMILY II.— GLAREOLID^. 



PRATINCOLE— (6^. pratincola ; formerly, 

 Glareola iorqtcala.) 



Collared Pratincole, Austrian Pratincole. — A bird of 

 sufBcienbly rare occurrence in this country, and re- 

 markable as having caused some degree of perplexity 

 and dispute among naturalists as to the position it 

 should occupy in the general system or classification 

 of the bird family. Mr, Yarrell (in whose first edition 

 it appears at the head of the Rail family) says — " The 

 Pratincole has been arianged by some authors with 

 the Swallows, by others near the Rails ; but I believe, 

 with Mr. Selby, that it ought to be included in the 

 family of the Plovers, and had I known its Plover- 

 like habits and eggs sooner, I should have arranged 

 it between Cursorius and Charadrius." To this Mr. 

 Hewitson adds — " Besides the similarity of their 

 habits, the fact of this species laying four eggs is a 

 further link to connect it with the Charadriid^e." It 

 is, however, much too rare — besides being known not 

 to breed in Britain — to have any claim on our limited 

 space for description of its nest or eggs. 



FAMILY in.— CHARADRIID^. 



CREAM-COLOURED COJ]'^^^Vi'-{Qirsorius 



Isabellinus). 



A very rare bird indeed. 



