THE SMALL SWALLOW-PLOVER. 363 



711. GLAREOLA LACTEA. 



THE SMALL SWALLOW-PLOVER. 



Glareola lactea, Tcmm. PL Col. 399 ; Jerd. B. Iml. ii. p. 632 ; Hume, Netts and 

 ^int*, ]' 668 j id. 8. F. iii. p. 179 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 154; Armstrong, 8. F. iv. 

 p. 333; Oates, S. F. v. p. 164; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 469; Hume $ 

 Dav. S. F. vi. p. 1-5.3; Jftnne, -V. F. viii. p. 112; Zey^e, jftrtfe Ceyforc, p. 984; 

 , 8. F. x. p. 237. 



Description. Male and female. Upper plumage and wing-coverts pale 

 brown; upper tail-coverts white; winglet and primary -co verts black; 

 primaries dark brown, the earlier ones with white shafts ; secondaries 

 white tipped with brown; tertiaries like the back; central tail-feathers 

 black, white at base ; the others with an increasing amount of white and 

 less black, the outermost feathers becoming white merely tipped with 

 black ; forehead and a line from the bill to the eye blackish brown ; breast 

 pale ashy ; chin, throat and remainder of lower plumage white ; under 

 wing- co verts and axillaries smoky black. 



Iris dark brown ; terminal half of bill black, basal half red, changing to 

 yellowish brown at the gape ; legs, feet and claws black. 



Length 6'8 inches, tail 2'1, wing 5'8, tarsus '8, bill from gape '75. The 

 female is of the same size. 



The Small Swallow-Plover is found abundantly on the larger rivers and 

 creeks of the Province, except in the southern part of Tenasserim, where it 

 appears to be absent. 



It occurs over the greater part of India up to the Indus river, in Ceylon, 

 and probably throughout the Indo-Burmese countries. 



This Swallow-Plover is confined entirely to sand-banks and to the low flat 

 shores of the larger streams. It is a constant resident and is usually seen 

 in large flocks. During the day they run about the sand, and in the 

 evening they fly about like Swallows in search of winged insects. They 

 breed in April, laying three or four eggs in a small depression in the 

 sand. 



