GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 163 



the Gambia region, the Gold Coast, Angola, and Damara Land. 

 Those breeding further east winter in Nubia and Abyssinia, south 

 to Natal and Cape Colony, whilst abnormal migrants even pene- 

 trate (probably stragglers from the birds breeding in the Thian- 

 Shan range) to Scinde and Northern India. 



Allied Forms. — Glareola melanoptera, an inhabitant in 

 summer of the Kirghiz steppes, from the Don north to lat. 55° in 

 West Siberia, and east to Ala-Kul. Passes through Persia, 

 Armenia, and Asia Minor, and Turkey, Egypt, and Nubia on 

 migration, and winters throughout South Africa. It is easily 

 distinguished from the Common Pratincole by its black axillaries 

 and deeply forked tail. G. orientalis, an inhabitant of India 

 and Ceylon, the Burmese peninsula, East Mongolia, Dauria, 

 China, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, 

 and North Australia. Resident in the south, migratory in the north. 

 Distinguished from the Common Pratincole by its combining the 

 three following characters : chestnut axillaries, white basal half of 

 outer web of tail feathers, and only slightly forked tail. 



Time during which the Common Pratincole may he 

 taken. — August I St to March ist. 



Habits. — The Pratincole is a bird of somewhat early passage, 

 arriving at its breeding grounds in North Africa and South 

 Europe in April. Its haunts are in marshes, on bare plateaux 

 and sandy plains, sometimes in cultivated districts, lagoons, and 

 low, flat islands. Unlike other Plovers, it is much more of an 

 aerial bird than a ground one, although it is capable of running 

 with great speed, and not unfrequently wades in the shallow 

 waters of its haunts. The most characteristic feature of the 

 Pratincole's economy is the bird's curious and prolonged flight. 

 It spends much of its time in the air, flying to and fro in quest of 

 food, skimming along just above the ground or water, turning and 

 twisting here and there in its busy quest. This singular habit 

 probably had great influence with Linnseus, when he placed the 

 Pratincole in his genus Hirundo, and may well serve as an excuse 

 for the great naturalist's curious error. The food of the Pratin- 

 cole, which is principally secured whilst the bird is on the wing, 

 consists of insects, especially beetles, grasshoppers, and locusts ; 

 and the bird is said to be most assiduous in obtaining it towards 



