118 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



gested that this species, as well as all other migrants, never normally crosses the 

 Tropics either to breed or to winter. Those breeding further east winter in 

 Nubia and Abyssinia, whilst abnormal migrants even penetrate (probably 

 stragglers from the birds breeding in the Thian-Shan range) to Scinde and 

 Northern India. 



Allied forms. Glareola melanoptera, an inhabitant in summer of South- 

 eastern Europe, especially the Kirghiz steppes, north to lat. 55 in West Siberia, 

 and east to Ala-Kul. Passes through Persia, Armenia, Asia Minor, Turkey, 

 Egypt, and Nubia on migration, and winters in the Intertropical portion of 

 Africa. We shall most probably find that in this case again a second set of 

 individuals migrate south from the equator to breed in South Africa. It is easily 

 distinguished from the Common Pratincole by its black axillaries and deeply 

 forked tail. G. orientalis, an inhabitant of India and Ceylon, the Burmese 

 Peninsula, East Mongolia, Dauria, China, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Archipelago, 

 the Philippines, and North Australia. Has been recorded from Japan. Eesident 

 in the south, migratory in the north. Distinguished from the Common Pratin- 

 cole by its combining the following characters : chestnut axillaries, white basal 

 half of outer web of tail feathers, absence of white tips to the secondaries, and 

 only slightly forked tail. 



Habits. The Pratincole is a bird of somewhat early passage, arriving at 

 its breeding grounds in North Africa and South Europe in April, and its haunts are 

 in marshes, on bare plateaux and sandy plains, sometimes in cultivated districts, 

 lagoons, and low, flat islands. Unlike other Plovers, it is much more of an aerial 

 bird than a ground one, although it is capable of running with great speed, 

 and not unfrequently wades in the shallow waters of its haunts. The most 

 characteristic feature of the Pratincole's economy is the bird's curious and pro- 

 longed flight. It spends much of its time in the air, flying to and fro in quest of 

 food, skimming along just above the ground or water, turning and twisting here 

 and there in its busy quest. This singular habit probably had great influence 

 with Linnaeus when he placed the Pratincole in his genus Hirundo, and may 

 well serve as an excuse for the great naturalist's curious error. The food of the 

 Pratincole, which is principally secured whilst the bird is on the wing, consists of 

 insects, especially beetles, grasshoppers, and locusts ; and the bird is said to be 

 most assiduous in obtaining it towards evening, a time when such creatures are 

 abroad in greatest abundance. The note of this species is described as a rattling 

 kr or Jcia, rapidly and persistently repeated. When on the ground the Pratin- 

 cole often elevates its wings and runs a little distance both before and after flight. 

 It returns to its African winter haunts in autumn, when the young are all safely 

 reared, and then becomes more gregarious, although at all times it is more or less 

 sociable, and usually breeds in scattered colonies. 



