730 Birds of Celebes: Glareolidae. 



middle toe; the tail of this latter species is deeply forked, not square, and in 

 coloration it wants the deep chestnut patch on the abdomen and sides. 



Glareola isahella breeds in Australia and seems only to be a migrant to the 

 East Indies during the cool season in the south. Judging from the fact that 

 we can find notice of only four collectors who have obtained it in Celebes — 

 Meyer, Weber, the Sarasins, and our native hunters — its visitations would 

 appear to be irregular. In 1892 what might almost be termed an irruption 

 seems to have taken place, and in August — September 48 specimens, adults and 

 young, were sent by our native hunters to the Dresden Museum chiefly from 

 the neighbourhood of Lake Tondano. In the two following years not a single 

 exam])le was obtained by the Drs. Sarasin, though very few Celebesian species 

 escaped these zealous naturalists. Like the Sand-grouse in Western Europe, 

 with which the Pratincole has several points of semblance, to wit the greatly 

 lengthened remiges, the general colour, the dark patch on the abdomen (which 

 may have to do with their inhabiting similar barren tracts if there is no real 

 affinity between them), the Pratincole seems to appear as a mysterious wanderer 

 in Celebes, in some years occurring in great numbers, in others, perhaps, not 

 at all. But this remains to be proved. In Billiton, Dr. Vorderman (7) says, 

 it occurs in abundance during the East Monsoon (April— October) on the sands 

 at ebb-tide. 



An admirable account of the habits of the Long-legged Pratincole, of which 

 few observers have obtained more than glimpses, is given by Mr. H. K. Bennett 

 from the interior of New South Wales (a 9) : "This somewhat singular bird is 

 one of the few migratory species that visit this part of the colony and remain 

 during the intense heat of summer. As a rule it arrives towards the end of 

 September and departs about the end of February. During that interval it 

 breeds, and the places chosen for this purpose, and in fact its habitat during 

 its stay are the bare patches of ground, entirely destitute of vegetation, so frequent 

 on the plains here. Some of these bare patches are of considerable extent, and 

 the surface of the ground is broken up into countless small pieces from the 

 size of a pea to that of a walnut ... It is on these loose patches that the 

 Glareola deposits its eggs , 2 in number . . . Usually it is very shy , but during 

 the period of incubation it loses this shyness and both parent birds will allow 

 themselves to be approached quite closely and seem utterly regardless of danger 

 in their anxiety to protect their eggs or young. In fact I have seen the female 

 bird so loath to quit the eggs that it was only when I touched her with my 

 hand, that she would quit the nest, pecking savagely at my hand several times 

 before she did so; the male bird in the mean time lying fiat on the ground, 

 with outstretched wings, a few feet ofi", uttering the most plaintive cries". 



"The young in the earlier stages are exceedingly helpless, and although the 

 colour of their down so closely resembles that of the loose pieces of earth amongst 

 which they are hatched that when motionless they are undistinguishable , still 



