GLAEEOLA OBIENTALIS. 981 



a white orbital fringe ,- quills and terminal portion of tail (deepest on the centre) blackish brown, illumined with 

 green on the latter part ; 1st primary-shaft white ; breast pale rufous or tawny, blending into the brownish of the 

 chest, which changes into the white of the lower parts, basal portion of tail, and upper tail-coverts ; axillary plume 

 and secondary under wing-coverts, which are much elongated, dark chestnut ; primary under-coverts blackish 

 brown ; edges of feathers beneath the metacarpus white. 



Young. The chicle is a " mixed pepper-and-salt colour, the black preponderating" (Oates). 



Birds of the year have the wing about 7 - 2 inches ; bill, with the base of the under mandible and the margin of the 

 upper at the gape not so red as in the adult. 



The brown of the head and upper surface paler and margined with fulvous, the hind neck much pervaded with the 

 latter, the buff of the throat not so pure as in the adult, and the feathers tipped with black, forming stria3, except 

 at the chin ; the black border is not clearly defined, and the white inner edge not distinct ; chest a darker 

 brown, and the feathers edged fulvous ; breast less rufous, and the colour more confined to the centre, the sides 

 being dusky ; the outer under wing-coverts are edged with black, instead of being entirely chestnut. With age 

 the black points on the buff throat disappear, but the gorget and white inner edge do not become clearly defined 

 until the bird is matured : the chest loses its pale edgings, and the under wing-coverts become richer. 



05s. Ceylon specimens of this interesting species correspond well with Indian and continental birds. A Bangkok 

 specimen, however, has the secondaries slightly tipped with white, though it corresponds in other respects with 

 examples from Ceylon : it measures 7 - 5 inches in the wing ; fork of tail 1-0. 



G. orientalis differs from the European species ( G. pratincola) in its less forked tail and in the absence of white tipping 

 to the secondaries and paler head, besides which it is a smaller bird. In the latter the head is concolorous with 

 the back, and has a sandy hue on the nape and hind neck. Four specimens from Africa and Southern Europe 

 measure in the wing 7'5, 7 - 5, 7"6, 7'8 inches respectively ; the depth of the fork of the tail varies from 2 - to 2-3. 



Glareola nordmanni, a Central- Asiatic species, has black axillaries and under wing-coverts, like G. lactea, is very 

 similar on the upper surface to the two foregoing, but differs beneath in being greyish white from the chest 

 downwards ; the chest is light brown, and the throat paler than in the Indian bird ; the secondaries, like it, want 

 the pale tipping. Wing 7"5 inches. 



G. grallaria, Temm., from Australia and some of the Malay islands, is characterized by its large size, square tail, and 

 long legs. A Bouru example measures S-O inches in the wing, tail 2 - 5, tarsus T9. The under wing is black, and 

 the flanks deep maroon. 



Distribution. — As yet this fine Swallow-Plover has been found in very few localities in Ceylon. Kelaart 

 includes it in his list, but from what district it is not stated, and subsequent observers seem to have passed 

 it over. I met with it, for the first time that it was ever satisfactorily identified in the island, at Minery tank, 

 on the 10th of July, 1875 ; and the first example shot was a female in a state of breeding. In the following 

 month it w r as found in considerable numbers on the western shores of Kanthelai tank, accompanied by young, 

 which had evidently been reared in that spot. I conclude that it breeds yearly about the grassy lands 

 surrounding these large sheets of water ; and probably some remain there throughout the year while their 

 companions depart for other spots suitable to their habits in unfrequented portions of the island. That it 

 wanders about is proved by the fact of an example having been procured on the Galle face, Colombo, by 

 Mr. MacVicar, since my departure from the island. The specimen in question was observed by this gentleman 

 flying about the beach on the 10th of September, 1876, and is now in the Colombo Museum. 



I will not undertake to assert, however, that it is a permanent resident in Ceylon, as it is everywhere a 

 bird of local and uncertain distribution; and it is possible that during the early part of 1875, at the time of 

 bird-migration, large flocks may have gone south to Ceylon and remained there during the monsoon to breed. 



By Jerdon it was said to be "found throughout India in suitable places, but chiefly in the cold weather;" 

 but to this statement Mr. Hume takes exception, and writes in 1874 ( ( Stray Feath/ p. 285) : — " My expe- 

 rience does not corroborate this " (Jerdon's) " view of the distribution of this species. I have never heard of 

 this species occurring in Sindh, the Punjab, Rajpootana, or the Central Provinces, and it is of extreme rarity, 

 as far as my experience goes, both in Oudh and the North-west Provinces ; almost the only place in which I 

 have known it to occur within these latter provinces has been along the Ganges from Futtehgurh downwards, 

 and there only in small numbers and at comparatively rare intervals." Mr. Doig, however, has recently met 

 with it in Sindh. 



6k2 



