CLAREOLINA. 531 
THE PRATINCOLE. 
GLAREOLA PRAT{NCOLA (Linnzus). 
Even to the south of Europe the Pratincole is only a summer- 
visitor, though it occasionally wanders to Great Britain on both spring 
and autumn migrations. Its occurrence was first noticed in 1807, 
when examples were obtained almost simultaneously at Ormskirk in 
Lancashire and Bowness in Cumberland, while subsequently four 
specimens have been taken in Norfolk, one in Cambridgeshire, one 
in Essex, one in Lincolnshire, three in Yorkshire, and one, strange 
to say, in Unst, the most northern of the Shetland Islands. In the 
south of England, Surrey, Hants, Dorset, Wilts, Somerset, Devon 
and Cornwall have been visited ; and a bird was observed near Hay 
in Breconshire by Messrs. Baskerville, who were well acquainted 
with the species. In Ireland, it is said that one, which was not 
preserved, was shot nearly fifty years ago in co. Cork; and the 
identification was probably correct, for all the evidence that I have 
been able to collect indicates that this species reaches our shores by 
traversing the western half of France. 
Early in April the Pratincole returns from its winter-quarters 
in the south to North Africa, where large numbers remain to breed ; 
while others pass through Egypt and nest in Palestine, Asia Minor, 
the Dobrudscha, the neighbourhood of Missolonghi in Greece, 
Sicily, the Balearic Islands, and the plains at the mouth of the 
Guadaiquivir in Spain. In other parts of the Mediterranean basin 
TT 2 
