Pratincote. ALECTORIDES. GLAREOLA. = 323 
who, in May 1804, received a specimen that was shot near 
Liverpool, and which is now in the collection of Lord Sran- 
wey. He afterwards accidentally killed one from amongst 
a flight of gulls and other sea-birds, in the Island of Unst, 
the most northern of the Shetland group. It is rarely met 
with so far northward, being a native of warmer climates. It 
inhabits the borders of rivers, lakes, and inland seas, particu- 
larly such as form extensive marshes, covered with reeds, and 
other aquatic herbage. In Hungary it is very abundant on 
the marshy confines of the Lakes Neusidel and Baladon, 
where it was seen in flocks of hundreds together by Mon- 
sieur TEMMINCK ; and it is also met with in some provinces of - 
Germany and France, as well as in Switzerland and Italy ; 
but in these latter countries only as a bird of passage, or ra- 
ther perhaps as an occasional visitant. In Tartary and the 
central parts of Asia it is common; and, indeed, its geogra- 
phical distribution appears to be very extensive, as might na- 
_turally be expected from the great power of flight it pos- 
sesses.—Its food consists of flies, beetles, and aquatic insects, Food. 
particularly those of the Coleopterous order, as Dytisci, Gy- 
rini, &c., and it captures its prey not only upon the wing, 
but on the ground, being capable of running with great ce- 
lerity *.—Its flight is singularly rapid, even surpassing that Flight: 
of {the swallow tribe, with which it has been unaccountably 
classed by various systematists and their servile imitators, 
solely from the resemblance it bears to the above in the 
length of the wings, and the forked appearance of the tail ; 
but which characters are equally possessed by other birds of 
different orders; amongst which may be mentioned the sea- 
swallows (Sterna), and the petrels (Procellaria). 
Flagrant errors of this kind shew that more is requisite to 
perfect a naturalist than the mere knowledge of form, as stu- 
died in museums amid stuffed specimens; and that, to suc- 
* The specimen in Lord Sran.ey’s collection was killed in the act 
of feeding upon wing; and, when dissected, its stomach was found to be 
filled with the remains of various beetles, 
ow 
