442 CHARADRIID.E. 



Society. It was very quiet in confinement, and had a 

 habit of throwing the head back, as if looking upwards. 

 M. Temminck says it frequents the banks of rivers, and the 

 marshy margins of large lakes, making its nest among 

 rushes or other dense aquatic vegetation. I have, however, 

 very lately learned something more. Among a collection 

 of birds, recently presented to the Zoological Society by 

 the son of Drummond Hay, Esq., and which had been shot 

 by this young gentleman in the vicinity of Tangiers, were 

 two skins of the Pratincole. On making inquiry of the 

 donor in reference to the Pratincole particularly, I learned 

 that the habits of this bird corresponded closely with those 

 of our Plovers, frequenting sandy plains, flying and running 

 with great rapidity ; forming a slight nest in any acci- 

 dental depression in the dry soil, and laying four eggs. 

 One example of this bird's egg was given to the Society ; 

 and this zealous young Ornithologist had seen others, 

 which were all alike. The egg measures one inch two 

 lines in length, by eleven lines and a half in breadth ; it is 

 of a pale buffy stone-colour, marked with small round spots 

 of bluish grey and dull black. This egg immediately 

 reminds the observer, who is acquainted with the eggs 

 of our birds, of those of the Ring Plovers, by its colours and 

 markings. The Pratincole has been arranged by some 

 authors with the Swallows, by others near the Bails : but 

 I believe, with Mr. Selby, that it ought to be included 

 in the family of the Plovers. I have lately obtained 

 a skeleton of our Pratincole, the breast bone of which, 

 with its double emargination, so much like those of 

 the Bustards and Plovers, confirms me in my view, that 

 it is allied to the Plovers, and I have so placed it accord- 

 ingly. 



The Pratincole is an inhabitant of the temperate and 



