COLLARED PRATINCOLE. 471 



A LIVING example of this species was preserved for some 

 months in the aviary at the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society. It was very quiet in confinement, and had a 

 habit of throwing the head back, as if looking upwards. 

 M. Temminck says it frequents the banks of rivers, and the 

 marshy margins of large lakes, making its nest among 

 rushes or other dense aquatic vegetation. Among a col- 

 lection of birds, presented to the Zoological Society by 

 the son of Drummond Hay, Esq., and which had been shot 

 by this young gentleman in the vicinity of Tangiers, were 

 two skins of the Pratincole. On making inquiry of the 

 donor in reference to the Pratincole particularly, I learned 

 that the habits of this bird corresponded closely with those 

 of our Plovers, frequenting sandy plains, flying and run- 

 ning with great rapidity ; forming a slight nest in any 

 accidental depression in the dry soil, and laying four eggs. 

 One example of this bird's egg was given to the Society ; 

 and this zealous young Ornithologist had seen others which 

 were all alike. The egg measures one inch two lines in 

 length, by eleven lines and a half in breadth ; it is of a 

 pale bufly stone-colour, marked with small round spots of 

 bluish grey and dull black. This egg immediately reminds 

 the observer, who is acquainted with the eggs of our birds, 

 of those of the Ring Plovers, by its colours and markings. 

 The Pratincole has been arranged 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. I have a skeleton of our Pratincole, the breast- 

 bone of which, with its double emargination, so much like 

 those of the Bustards and Plovers, confirms me in my 

 view, that it is allied to the Plovers, and I have so placed 

 it accordingly. 



The Pratincole is an inhabitant of the temperate and 

 warmer parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia ; and from 



