78 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 



842 Ms.— Glareola pratincola, Lin 



Eatnagiri. 



22nd August 1879, Male. — Wing, 8£ ; tails, 5, forked for 

 upwards of an inch; bill at gape nearly 1 ; tarsus, 1£. 



The occurrence of these Swallow Plovers at Ratnagiri is, 

 I think, exceptional. The only occasion on which I have seen 

 them was on the date above given, when I secured one out of a 

 pair, which were hawking about on the bare table-land above 

 the Ratnagiri station. 



[This specimen was sent as G. orientalis, but it is unmistak- 

 ably G. pratincola, with the deeply-forked tail and the white 

 shaft to the first primary. This is quite a young bird, but 

 the fork is already over 1*75. 



This species breeds in Lower Sindh, whence I have numer- 

 ous specimens, kindly collected for me with the eggs by 

 Mr. Doitf, aud this specimen may be a straggler thence, or may 

 have been blown over from Africa. This is the first time that 

 G. pratincola has been observed within our limits outside of 

 Sindh. m . 



There is some difficulty in distinguishing specimens of 

 Glareola pratincola, with imperfectly developed tails, from 

 those of G. orientalis. 



In Volume II, page 284, the difference between the two 

 species was said to consist in — 



(1), the greater degree to which the tail is forked, the exte- 

 rior tail feathers in pratincola projecting from 2 - to 2*5 in- 

 ches beyond the central ones, while in orientalis they scarcely 

 project an inch; (2), in the conspicuous white tippings to 

 the short secondaries in pratincola, which is wanting in orien- 

 talis ; (3), in the wing in pratincola being longer than in 

 orientalis. 



Now where the tail is fully developed the first is an in- 

 fallible diagnosis ; the second, broadly speaking, holds good, 

 but I have now come across specimens of pratincola in which 

 the white tipping is very inconspicuous, and others of orientalis 

 in which there is a trace of this. As for the third it may 

 hold good on an average of specimens, and the wings in 

 pratincola run up to fully 8 inches, while I do not think that 

 in orientalis they ever exceed 7 '60 inches, and they are 

 generally considerably smaller, but I have several pratincola 

 in which the wing is under 7 "50 inches, so that as a diagnosis 

 the length of the wing is useless. 



The following additional differences will aid in distinguish- 

 ing the two species ; (a) the shaft of the first primary in 

 orientalis is brownish white, in some lights almost quite brown, 

 while in pratincola it is nearly pure white, probably quite 



