206 BRITISH BIRDS* EGGS. 



vourite resorts, inland tracts at a great distance from the 

 sea, and run with astonishing rapidity, as well as fly with 

 great power. Their strongholds appear to be Africa and 

 India, and the present species is reported to be numerous 

 in Abyssinia. It has occurred occasionally in Great Britain, 

 and in a few instances upon the European continent, but 

 little is known of its habits or nidification ; indeed, of the 

 latter we can at present furnish no account. 



COLLATED PRATINCOLE. Glareola tor quota. This bird 

 has only been met with occasionally in Britain, but in the 

 eastern provinces of Europe, and in parts of Asia, it occurs 

 in abundance. Sandy places near water, and low meadows, 

 are spoken of as its favourite resorts, while its nest is va- 

 riously, yet perhaps accurately, described as being placed 

 in any accidental depression in the dry soil, or again, as 

 found among reeds, osiers, and the tall herbage of mo- 

 rasses. The eggs are four in number, of a rather rounded 

 form, with little or none of the pear-shape peculiar to many 

 which we have recently noticed. The colour is a yellowish- 

 white, thickly streaked and blotched with grey, black, and 

 brown. The evolutions of these birds in the air are graceful 

 and quick ; they fly with rapidity, and run swiftly. They 

 are insectivorous, and their food is sometimes taken on the 



