OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 119 



Nidification. — The breeding season of the Pratincole commences in May, 

 and fresh eggs may be found almost throughout that month. An island seems 

 to be preferred to the mainland, where choice is possible, and the bare, dry mud 

 is selected rather than ground covered with herbage. Colonies of these birds, 

 visited by Seebohm in Greece and Asia Minor, were established on low islets 

 in the lagoons, and the eggs were deposited on the dry mud, amongst no other 

 herbage but straggling plants of Salsola. Nest there is none, the eggs being laid 

 generally on the bare ground, without even a hollow to hold them. They are 

 two or three in number, in rare instances as many as four, very fragile, and oval 

 in shape. They vary from buff to grey in ground-colour, spotted, blotched, and 

 streaked over most of the surface with blackish-brown, and marbled with under- 

 lying markings of greyish-brown. They measure on an average 12 inch in 

 length by '9 inch in breadth. The period of incubation is unknown, but one 

 brood only is reared in the year. When their breeding grounds are invaded by 

 man the Pratincoles become very restless and noisy, and often indulge in various 

 antics, even shamming death, or broken limbs, to lure intruders away. Even 

 before the eggs are laid the Pratincole is addicted to these strange antics. 

 Many nests may be found within a comparatively small area, although the birds 

 can scarcely be regarded as universally gregarious at the breeding grounds. In 

 some localities they nest in solitary pairs, but in others in large colonies. 



Diagnostic characters — Glareola, with the axillaries chestnut, the 

 secondaries broadly tipped with white, and the tail deeply forked. Length, 9 to 

 10 inches. 



