320 COLLARED PRATINCOLE. 



\vhich was wholly of flies, of which its stomach was 

 full ;'* and Mr. Yarrell has recorded, on the autho- 

 rity of a son of Mr. Drummond Hay, that the habits 

 of the Pratincole " corresponded closely with those 

 of our plovers, frequenting sandy plains, flying and 

 running with great rapidity ; forming a slight nest 

 in any accidental depression in the dry soil, and lay- 

 ing four eggs." 



In a continental specimen, the plumage above is 

 of a dark hair-brown colour, tinted with a greenish 

 metallic lustre. This passes across the breast, hav- 

 ing there a yellower tint, or appears nearly as wood- 

 brown ; the upper tail-coverts are white ; the quills 

 brownish-black, the shaft of the first broad and yel- 

 lowish-white. The throat and fore part of the neck 

 ochreous, bounded and separated from the colour of 

 the upper parts by a narrow line of black, arising 

 from the anterior angle of each eye, and passing as 

 a collar above the wood-brown of the breast ; belly, 

 vent, and under tail-coverts, white. The axillary 

 feathers deep orange-coloured brown ; the tail, which 

 is forked to the extent of two inches, is white at the 

 base; the centre feathers almost wholly black, the 

 ends of the others being blackish-brown, the white 

 increasing in extent on every feather towards the 

 outside. Bill black, lips or edges of the rictus red- 

 dish-orange*. In the young birds the feathers above 

 are edged with a paler tint, and the dark colour is 

 less distinct. We have no information whethei a 

 partial seasonal change takes place. 

 * Bullock. 



