362 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



feathers on the edges of the eyelids white ; chin and throat pale rufous, 

 surrounded by a well-defined narrow black band commencing on each side 

 at the gape and passing under the eye ; sides of the head and neck the 

 same colour as the throat ; lower plumage rufous-grey, turning to white 

 on the lower abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries chestnut ; quills dark brown ; the shaft of the first primary 

 whitish, the others rufous. 



Bill black; gape bright red; month flesh-colour; iris hazel-brown; legs 

 purplish brown ; claws dark horn. 



Length 9'5 inches, tail 3*4, wing 7*2, tarsus !'.'>, bill from gape 1. The 

 female is of much the same size. 



This species differs from its European ally G. pratincola in wanting the 

 white tips to the secondaries and in having the tail much less forked. In 

 G. orientalis the fork of the tail is about one inch, in the other rather more 

 than two inches. There are other differences of minor importance. 



The Eastern Swallow-Plover is abundant throughout Burmah in suitable 

 localities from February to June, a few birds remaining up to August. 

 They are very punctual in arriving in February, but less so in leaving, the 

 birds apparently departing in batches as the business of incubation is done 

 with. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay observed them migrating northwards over 

 Tonghoo in April ; and this is the month in which most of the birds leave 

 the Province. 



It is found over the whole of India up to Scinde and in Ceylon ; it 

 occurs in Mongolia and China, Cochin China, the Malay peninsula and 

 the islands to Australia. 



This Swallow-Plover appears to visit Burmah solely for the purpose of 

 breeding. I succeeded in finding the eggs in April and May, but the 

 majority of the birds lay in March. They frequent sandy wastes and 

 burnt-up paddy-fields ; and the eggs, two or three in number, are laid on 

 the bare ground. In colour the eggs are buff thickly blotched with 

 blackish brown. These birds run well and spend most of their time on the 

 ground ; but occasionally large numbers may be seen hawking after insects, 

 flying with great speed in circles and backwards and forwards. 



