376 The Plover-like Birds 



small or large flocks. It is an active bird, running about swiftly and flying 

 well; its note is described as a low, rather musical call. The nesting habits 

 are peculiar in that the single, very large, pure white egg is laid at the end 

 of a hole dug by the bird itself in sand near- the shore. According to Blanford, 

 the hole is dug "obliquely in the form of a bow curving up toward the end, 

 which is about four feet from the entrance; there is no lining." The egg 

 measures about two and fifty-four hundredths by one and seventy-seven 

 hundredths inches. 



There has been much discussion as to the proper systematic position of this 

 bird, some regarding it as an aberrant Tern, others as allied to the Oyster-catch- 

 ers, while Gadow places it under the preceding family. It seems, however, suffi- 

 ciently distinct to merit being placed in a distinct family. 



THE PRATINCOLES AND COURSERS 



(Family Glareolidce) 



There has been brought together within the confines of this family, under the 

 name of Pratincoles and Coursers, a number of peculiar Old World birds con- 

 cerning the systematic position of which there have been some decided differ- 

 ences of opinion, and even now not all of the questions can be regarded as defi- 

 nitely settled. In any event, the birds here included agree among themselves 

 in wanting the basipterygoid processes at the base of the skull, a character which 

 serves to separate them from all the other members of the order. With the 

 exception of the Black-backed Courser ( Pluvianus), if this is to be included here, 

 all agree in having slit-like (schizorhinal) nostrils and the split (schizognathous) 

 form of the palate, while the tarsus is transversely scaled in front. They are 

 separated into two well-marked groups or subfamilies, to the first of which (the 

 Glareoliniz) belong the Pratincoles, of which there are ten species, placed under 

 three genera or by some under a single genus. 



The typical Pratincoles (Glareola) are small birds with very long, pointed 

 wings and a rather long, very deeply forked tail, the latter a unique feature 

 among the Plover-like birds and the one doubtless which induced Linnaeus to 

 place them among the Swallows. As additional to these characters it may be 

 mentioned that they possess four toes, the outer and middle one being united 

 by a short web, while the middle toe is provided with a distinct, comb-like claw, 

 on which account, apparently, they were presumed by Richenow to be related 

 to the Goatsuckers. 



The Common or Collared Pratincole (G. pratincola) of the warmer parts of 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa is about nine inches long, brown with an olive tinge 

 above, the wings blackish with the secondaries white-tipped, and a blackish 

 tail which is white at the base, while the breast and flanks are grayish brown, 

 and the remainder of the under parts white. There is a black line under the eye 

 and around the throat where it forms a shield, and the under wing-coverts and 



