Birds of Celebes: Glareolidae. 



729 



Adult. Head, back and breast isabelline, browner on bead and inner remiges, paler on 

 breast, sides of neck and face, nearly wliite on cliin and throat, the feathers of the 

 upper parts edged with rufous cinnamon; lores dusky; outer primaries and pri- 

 mary-coverts black, the first quill with the shaft white, metacarpal edge brown 

 and white; secondaries, and inner webs of the inner primaries, pale drab- 

 brown; lower back and rump dark drab-brown; upper tail-coverts and basal 

 part of rectrices white; terminal half of tail-feathers black, tip wliite, stained 

 with the black, outermost rectrices almost entirely white; lower sides and abdomen 

 deep maroon; hind flanks and under tail-coverts white; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries black; remiges below dusky; "iris Vandyke -brown; terminal part 

 of bill black, base dark red; feet dark brown, nearly black" — Vorderman 7 

 (ad., near Tondano, Aug.— Sept., 1892: Nat. Coll. — C 10831). 



Sex. Sexual differences of coloration have not yet been shown to exist. Two specimens 

 in the Dresden Museum, which, from their great length of wing, must be fully adult, 

 have not the bill abruptedly divided into a black tip and red base; and a line of 

 brown spots along the submalar region and across the jugulum, forming a horse-shoe, 

 surrounds the whitish throat; these are perhaps adult females (Tondano — C 10838, 

 Manado — C J 0938). A specunen marked 2 in the Sarasin Collection (Macassar) 

 is not so characterized. 



Young of the year. Like the adult, but rather browner above, breast paler and with dark 

 centre- spots to the feathers, abdomen paler chestnut; bill black, hardly redder at 

 the base; outer remiges less elongated (near Tondano — C 10836). 



Chick. Covered with down, closely resembling the earth on which it is hatched (Bennett a 9). 



Measurements (8 adults). Wing 190 — 213 mm; tail 56—65; tarsus 45 — 50; bill fi-om nostril 10. 



Eggs. 2 (sometimes 3). "The egg in my Collection coming from inner Austraha measures 

 30.5 X 26 mm. The ground-colour is clay-yellow. Pale grey subjacent and dark 

 grey to brownish superjacent spots are evenly distributed over the whole egg without 

 forming a circlet. The shell is rough to the touch, and without gloss" (Nehrkorn 

 MS.). Creamy-white, dull light stone-colour, or hght buff, well covered with irre- 

 gularly shaped blotches, dots, and spots, and fi-eckles of dull umber and dark sienna- 

 brown, with a few dots and dashes almost black, and obsolete spots here and there 

 of slaty grey; in shape slightly swollen at the thicker end and not pointed; size 

 33 X 25.4 mm (from Ramsay a 8, figured by North a XIV). 



Nest. None. The eggs are deposited on the bare ground (Bennett a 9). 



Breeding season. Commences in New South Wales in October or sometimes September 

 (Bennett a 9). 



Distribution. Australia — from Cape York to inner Australia and New South Wales 

 (Ramsay, etc. a 12); New Guinea, Aru, Kei, Salawatti, Waigiou, Tijor, Biu^, 

 Obi major (cf. Salvadori e 1); Celebes — Gorontalo District (Meyer a 5 and 

 in Dresd. Mus.), Minahassa (Nat. Coll.), S. Peninsula (Meyer e 4, Weber a 16, 

 P.& P. Sarasin 9); Peling Id. (Nat. Coll. in Dresd. Mus.); Thnor (Riedel 4); Rotti 

 (ten Kate a 15); Flores (Semmelink a 4); Java (Kuhl and van Hasselt a 4); 

 Billiton (Vorderman 7, 8); Borneo (Schwaner a 4). 



This curious bird is easily distinguished from other Pratincoles by the gi-eater 

 length of its tarsus, which is considerably more than twice the length of the 

 middle toe without the claw. Its nearest affinities are probably with Glareola 

 onentalis in which the tarsus is only one and a half times the length of the 



Meyer * Wii-Usworth Birds of Cnlebes iDec. 1»' 1S97). 92 



