Pratincoles 



377 



axillaries are chestnut-red. From eastern Siberia and as far south as Australia 

 its place is filled by the Indian Pratincole, or Swallow-Plover (G. orientalis), 

 which differs slightly in color and has a less deeply forked tail, while in south- 

 eastern Europe in summer and Africa in winter occurs Nordmann's Pratincole 

 (G. melanoptera), which is well marked by having the under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries jet-black. In Africa it is attendant upon the swarms of locusts and is 

 known to the colonists as the Locust-bird. 



The Pratincoles all have similar habits, going usually in flocks of greater or 

 less size and frequenting open, flat ground such as the sandy beds of large rivers, 

 sandy plains, and desert places in the vicinity of water. As a rule they rest on 

 the sand during the middle of the day, becoming active in the morning and 

 evening, when they hawk back and forth for insects "like a gigantic Swallow," 



FIG. 128. Australian Pratincole, Stiltia Isabella. 



now high up in the air, now just skimming the surface of the ground, or wheeling 

 and darting about in a surprisingly active manner. They are, however, equally 

 at home on the ground on which they run with ease and swiftness, notwithstand- 

 ing the rather short legs. Their food consists of moths, beetles, flies, grasshop- 

 pers, and other insects, the larger proportion being taken on the wing. The 

 note of the common species, Mr. Dresser says, is a shrill whistle, kia, kia, usually 

 uttered on the wing. They make no nest, but deposit the two or three large eggs 

 in a slight depression on the bare sand. 



Differing from the last merely in having the tail emarginate or nearly square 

 are the Pratincoles of the genus Galactochrysea, of which five are found in Africa 

 and one in the Indian peninsula and Ceylon. On the ground of a much longer 

 tarsus and a lengthened and attenuated first primary the Australian Pratincole 

 is placed in a genus by itself (Stiltia Isabella}. The habits of all are practically 

 identical with those of the common species. 



The Coursers, comprising the second subfamily (Cursoriin(z\ are distinguished 



