364 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The Pratincole has not till lately been noticed as 

 a British bird. Montagu says, one of them was 

 shot near Liverpool, on the 1 8th May, 1 804, and was 

 taken to Mr. Bullock* before it was cold, which 

 specimen is now in the collection of Lord Stanley. 

 It was shot in the act of taking beetles on the wing, 

 the remains of which were found in its stomach. 

 The stuffed specimen from which our figure and 

 description were taken, was lent to this work by the 

 late Mr. John Wingate, of Newcastle. The length 

 is about ten inches; bill black and short; the upper 

 mandible convex or hooked; under one red at the 

 base; the gape is wide; the irides are said to be 

 reddish ; colour of the plumage on the upper parts 

 brown, but the crown of the head and neck are 

 somewhat tinged with rufous ; primary quills dark 

 brown, secondaries paler and tipped with white; 

 throat brownish buff; a black line begins in front 

 of the eye, and passing underneath it before the 

 auriculars, falls down and encircles the throat; 

 below this to the breast, the feathers are rufous 

 pale brown, fading into buff on the lower part. 

 The belly, sides of the rump, and upper and under 

 coverts of the tail, are white; the feathers at the 

 base of the tail are also white on both the outer 

 and inner webs; the rest of the feathers are deep 

 brown; the tail is much forked, and the two out- 

 side feathers are about an inch and a quarter 

 longer than the rest; the wings, as well as the tail, 

 are long, and both are formed like those of the 

 Swallow; the edge of the wing from the alula spuria 



* Mr. Bullock also met with one in the summer of 1812, in Unst, 

 one of the Zetland Isles. 



