GLAREOLA. 581 



Gen. Glareola. 



Tail short and even, or long and forked ; other characters as in the family. 



1253. Glareola orientaliS, Leach., Lin. Tr. xiii. 132; Gould, B. 

 As. vi.pl. 23; Schiel., Handlist Dierk. t. 7, 79; Jerdon, B. Ind. iii. 

 p. 631; Sir. F. ii. pp. 284, 465; viii. p. 371; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc., 

 Sind, p. 208 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 568 ; Legge, B. Ceylon, 

 p. 980; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 196; Oates, Sir. F. x. p. 237; Kelham, 

 Ibis, 1882, p. 6; Gates, B. Burm. ii. p. 361 ; Murray, Vert. Zool., Smd t 

 p. 222. THE LARGE SWALLOW PLOVER. 



Forehead, crown, back of head, sides of neck, ear coverts, back, scapulars 

 and wing coverts hair brown ; upper tail coverts white ; tail forked, basally 

 white, the feathers broadly tipped with dark brown ; chin and throat rufescent, 

 a few of the feathers in some specimens tipped dark brown ; a dark line from 

 each side of the mandible to below the neck, enclosing the rufous chin, throat 

 and breast; upper abdomen and flanks- earthy brown, with a tinge of rufes- 

 cent ; lower abdomen, vent and under tail coverts white ; axillaries and under 

 wing coverts behind chestnut ; primaries dark brown, almost black ; the shaft 

 of the first primary white ; a few of the upper secondaries tipped white ; irides 

 dark brown ; bill black ; gape reddish ; legs and feet dusky brown. 



Length. 10 to io'S inches ; wing 7-5 ; tail 4*25 to 4-5. 



Hab, Sind, Bengal and the Deccan, and throughout Burmah in suitable 

 localities from February to June. Occurs in Mongolia and China, also Cochin- 

 China, the Malay Peninsula, and Ceylon. Affects fields and open or culti- 

 vated land in small flocks. It has, like its congeners, a very rapid and 

 swallow-like flight. Breeds in Sind. Mr. S. Doig, in an article in Stray 

 Feathers, vol. viii., p. 375, gives an account of its nidification in company with 

 Glareola pratincola. "The breeding ground," he says, "was about 15 acres 

 in extent, and was a salt plain with patches of coarse sedge here and there on 

 it, the whole being surrounded by dense tamarisk and rush jungle, and was 

 situated about half a mile from the bank of the Narra.' The nests were 

 slight hollows scraped in the ground, and the greatest number of eggs in any 

 nest was three, which seemed to be the normal number, but some contained 

 only two' eggs, of a light dirty green or drab colour, covered all over with dark 

 purple blotches, dense at the broader end, and forming a zone. In shape 

 they are from broad ovals to nearly spherical, and vary in size from PI to 1-35 

 in length, and from 0-8 to ro5 in width." 



The distribution of the Glareolidce in India is not perfectly known. 



1254. Glareola pratincola, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. 345 ; p. E. 882 ; 



Naum. vogt. t. 234 ; Gould, B. E. pi. 265 ; Leach, Linn. Trans, xiii. pi. 12., 

 i, 2 j S/r. F. viii. p. 371 ; Murray, Hdbk. y Zool., fyc. Sind, p. 207 ; id., 



