44 PRATINGOLA 



tarsus 0'92 inch. The female is duller in colour, the superciliary stripe is 

 yellowish white, the alar patch smaller, the under parts are yellowish 

 white, the flanks washed with rufous, and the breast slightly spotted. The 

 young resemble the female, but have broader margins to the feathers, and 

 the breast is more spotted. 



Hob. Europe generally, ranging as far east as Persia, 

 migrating in winter to North Africa, Senegambia, and the Gold 

 Coast. In N.W. India it is replaced by an allied species, P. 

 macrorhyncha Stoliczka. 



Frequents open country, commons, heaths and pastures, 

 and is active and restless, flitting from bush to bush. Its 

 call note is sharp and short, and from it the name of ' chat ' 

 is derived. Its song is short but agreeable, and is uttered 

 when the bird is perched on a twig, or when fluttering in 

 the air. Its nest which is constructed of fine grass-bents, 

 moss, and roots, and lined with finer bents or hair, is placed 

 amongst bushes or grass carefully concealed, and the eggs from 

 4 to 6 or even 7 in number are dull bluish green with indis- 

 tinct reddish-brown spots, and measure 07 by 0'55. Its food 

 consists of small coleoptera, insects of various kinds, worms, 

 caterpillars, small mollusks, and even occasionally berries. 



67. CAXARIAX CHAT. 

 PRATINCOLA DACOTIJE. 



Pratincola dacot'm, Meade, Waldo, Ibis, 1889, p. 504, pi. xv. ; 

 Dresser, ix. p. 37, pi. 640 (1895). 



<J ad. Upper parts blackish brown, the feathers with lighter margins, 

 crown and nape darker ; lores and sides of head black ; superciliary stripe 

 white ; wings and tail brown, with whitish margins ; alar patch white ; 

 under parts white, with a pale rusty- red patch on the breast ; bill and legs 

 black ; iris brown. Culmen 0'62, wing 2*5, tail 2'3, tarsus 0'9 inch. The 

 female is paler and duller, especially on the head, and the rufous patch 

 on the breast is nearly obsolete. 



Hob. The island of Fuerteventura (Canaries) but it may 

 possibly occur on the opposite unexplored coast of Africa. 



Frequents small barrancos on" the mountain slopes where 

 there are bushes. It is an early breeder, the young being 

 fledged by the middle of February, and its nest is placed on 

 the ground under stones or a rock. Mr. Meade Waldo was too 

 late for the eggs, but received eggs said to be those of this 

 species which he says resembled intensely bright coloured eggs 

 of P. nibicola. 



