913 



CIIA1U1WIAD.E. 



( IIAKADUIAIl.r.. 



IM 



C. Iiabtlli***, Never, Temmiuck ; ('. rop<rm>, 'I ml. Orn;' (,'. 

 Gaiiictu, Omelin ; Le Courrite, Buff. ; ('mum-Coloured I 

 Latham ; Cream-Coloured Conner. Pennant; Cream-Coloured Swift - 

 Foot, Selby. It ban been Men in Kmnco and England, but only as an 

 ooeaiional visitor. Thin wo find (Hunt. ' Orn. Diet') that one was 

 killed in France, where it wa* seen to run with great swiftness ; ano- 

 ther wan ahot near St. Alban's in Butt Kent, the aeat of William 

 Hammond, Kaq., on the Kith of November, 1785, and he prevented 

 the prize to I>r. IjiUinm. Hr. Hammond first met with it on gome 

 light land ; and so little fearful was it, that having no gun with him 

 at that time he sent for one, which did not readily go off. having been 

 charged for some time, and, in consequence, he missed his aim ; the 

 report frightened the bird away, but after limiting a turn or two, it again 

 settled within a hundred yards of him, when he was prepared with a 

 second shot, which killed it He observed it to run with incredible 

 Rwiftnnw, considering its size, and at intervals to pick something from 

 the ground : it was so bold as to render it difficult to make it rise in 

 <.r.|er to take a more secure aim on the wing. The note was unlike 

 that of any known bird. Colonel Montagu says that one was shot in 

 North Wales in the year 1793, and preserved in the collection of the 

 late Professor Sibthorp at Oxford. Mr. Atkinson, author of "The 

 Compendium of Ornithology,' WHS also in possession of a specimen 

 shot at Netherby, in April, 1816. 



Another of these birds was taken in Austria ; and the young bird 

 in the Darmstadt Museum, alluded to by Temminck, was probably 

 killed in Kurope. Mr. Fox (' Zool. Journal,' vol. iii., p. 492) records 

 the death of one shot on the 15th October, 1827, under Timberwood 

 Hill, in Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, by a tenant of Mr. T. Gis- 

 borne. He described it as coming flying over his head, uttering a 

 cry with which he was unacquainted, and it settled near him. Some 

 idea of the enormous prices which were at one time given by collectors 

 for rare birds killed in Britain may be formed from the sum which 

 Dr. Latham's specimen produced : Mr. Fox says it was purchased for 

 83 guineas. 



d'lartola, Brisson. Bill short, hard, convex, curved for upwards 

 of half its length, and compressed towards the point Nostrils 

 at the sides of the base, oblong, and obliquely cleft Legs 

 feathered nearly to the knee ; toes, three before and one behind, the 

 outer united to the middle one by a short membrane ; claws long, 

 and drawn to a fine point Wings very large, the first quill-feather 

 the longest Tail more ar less forked. (Gould.) 



Example, G. Praiincola (llirundo Pratincola, Linmous), the Collared 

 Pranticole. Both male and female when old have the summit of 

 the head, nape, back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings gray-brown ; 

 throat and front of the neck white slightly tinged with red, which 

 colour is encircled or framed, as it were, by a very narrow black 

 band, which ascends towards the corners of the bill ; space between 

 the eye and the bill black ; breast whitish-brown ; under coverts of 

 the wings chestnut-red; lower parts white, clouded with reddish; 

 coverts of the tail and origin of the caudal feathers pure white, the 

 rest blackish towards their end ; bill block, red at its base, iris 

 reddish-brown ; naked circle round the eyes bright-red ; feet reddish- 

 ash. Tail very much forked. Length rather more than 9 inches. 

 (Temm.) 



In this state it is the Perdrix de Mer of Brisson, &c. ; the Perdrix 

 de Mer Ordinaire et a Collier of Gerard ; Austrian Pratincole of 

 Ijitham ; Das Rothfussige Sandhuhn of Bechstein ; Das Oestrichiache 

 Halsband, and Sudliche Sandhuhn, of Brehui ; and Pernice di Mar.- 

 of Savi. 



Varieties. The gray-brown brighter or deeper : the white of the 

 throat more or less clouded with reddish or bright russet ; the gular 

 black band more or less intense in colour, and often accompanied by 

 a very small white line. The baud too is often only indicated by 

 small black spots. (Temm.) 



When young the upper parts are brown-ash, clouded with deeper 

 undulations and whitish borders ; throat tarnished white, surrounded 

 with brown spots disposed so as to replace the band which surrounds 

 this part in the old birds ; breast and belly deep gray with brown 

 Kpota, but sometimes without spots; the tail less forked, and the 

 lateral feather much shorter than in the old. 



In this state it appears to be La Perdrix de Mer a Collier, la grise, 

 labrune, etlaGiarole of Sonnini, ofBuffon; La Perdrix de Merdes 

 Maldives, de Coromandcl, et de Madras, of Sonnerat; Das Braun- 

 ringige Sandhuhn, and Uefleckte Sandhuhn, of Bechstein; and Collared 

 and further varieties of Pratincole of Latham. 



" The genus filareola," says Mr. Qould in his great work on the 

 ' Birds of Europe,' " appear* to be strictly confined to the Old World, 

 no transatlantic example having ever been discovered, nor indeed are 

 we aware of any form in the ornithology of America which at all 

 approaches the present Three species are all that are as yet disco- 

 vered. Of these, two (the G. grallaria and the (!. lactea) are peculiar 

 to the eastern provinces of Asia and Africa ; the other, the bird now 

 before us (G. torqttata), is spread throughout the warm and temperate 

 regions not only of these continents, but Europe alto : hence it would 

 seem as if nature endeavoured to make up by extent of habitat for the 

 limitation of specie*. Still however, although thus diffused, the 

 Prantincole may be said to be truly a native of the eastern provinces 

 of Europe on the Asiatic borders, and especially Hungary, where 



wide tracts of morass and flat lands, abounding in hikes both fresh 

 and saline, and traversed l>y minhf.y river.-, afford it food and security. 

 ' In Hungary,' says M. Temminck, 'among the immense morasses of 

 the lakes Neusidel and Balaton, I have been in the i:i:<l.-t of many 

 lir.ii.ln-.l-< of these birds;' and we might a. 1.1 that it is no less 

 abundant in Western Tartary. In I '.inland it is only an occasional 

 visitor; but in Germany, France, and Italy, it is a bird of p. nodical 

 occurrence." 



M. Temminck, in the hut part of his ' Manuel,' states that it breeds 

 in Sardinia, and that it is very abundant in Dalmatia, on the border* 

 of the lake Boccagnaro, on its spring passage. The eggs he describes 

 as being yellowish-white. " With the long wings and forked tail of 

 the swallow" we again quote Mr. lioiild "the Pranticole posse uses 

 that rapidity ami power of flight, fur which the bird is BO remarkable. 

 It takes its food, !;:! f injects, and especially such as 



frequent marshes and the borders of rivers, while mi the wins, 

 darting along in the chase with the rapidity of an arrow ; nor is it 

 less distinguishable for celerity on the gr.em.l. :iinl often catches its 

 prey as it nimbly runs along. Thin rh-gaiit ami graeefnl bird 

 incubates in the concealment afforded by reeds, osiers, and tall 

 herbage, laying three or four white eggs." A pair of Pratincoles 

 were shot at Yarmouth in 1827 ; another in Wilbmhan Ken in 

 Cambridgeshire in 1835 ; and a specimen at Blakeney in Norfolk, in 

 May, 1845. 



TJ 



Collared Pratincole (Glarrola Pi-atineola). 



Squatarola, Cuvier. Bill rather strong, cylindrical, straight, nearly 

 as long as the head ; the tip or horny part about half the length of 

 the whole bill, tumid and arched, with the tornia bending inwards ; 

 nasal grooves wide, half the length of the bill; inesorhinium 

 depressed below the level of the tip ; nostrils longitudinally pier.-ed 

 in the membrane of the groove, linear, oblong. Wings rather long, 

 acuminate, with the first quill-feather the longest Legs slender, of 

 mean length, naked above the tarsal joint; feet four-toed, three before 

 and one behind ; front toes joined at their base by a membrane, that 

 portion of it between the outer and middle toe be-in- tin- Imip-tt. ; 

 hind toe very small or rudimental ; tarsi reticulated. Plumage thick, 

 close, and adpressed. (Gould.) 



Head and Font of Xi/nalan-ln. 



,,rrra (Trin'in .^/ii'i/nn.la, Linn.), the Bastard or Gray Plover. 

 Adult Vale sod Female, Winter Plumage. Front, throat, middle 

 of the belly, thigh, abdomen, and upir coverts of (lie tail, pure 

 white ; space above the eye, front of the n.-.-k. id. < ..f the breast and 

 sides, white, varied with brown and adiy spot.-* ; upper parts blackish- 

 brown, variegated with greenish-yellow spots, but the whole ot the 

 feathers terminated with ash-colour and whitish; Ion;; internal 

 feathers of the wings deep black; lower oOYMtl of the tail marked 

 on their external barbs with small diagonal brown bands ; tail white, 

 but reddish towards the end, striped with brown bands, which are 



