Family GLAREOLID^L 



Genus GLAREOLA. 



Glareola, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 141 (1760). 

 Hirundo apud LinnEeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 345 (1766). 

 Trachelia apud Scopoli, Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 110 (1769). 

 Pratincola apud Degland, Orn. Eur. ii. p. 107 (1843). 



The Pratincoles inhabit the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian Regions, two species 

 being found in the Western Palsearctic Region. In their general habits they resemble the 

 Plovers ; but they are often to be met with in dry sandy localities far from water, though they 

 also frequent marshy places and the shores of lakes and pools. They are gregarious, fre- 

 quently collecting in larger or smaller flocks, and even breed in proximity to each other, 

 forming larger or smaller colonies. They run with great ease and celerity ; and their flight 

 is very rapid, resembling that of the Swallows. They feed on insects of various kinds, and 

 not unfrequently capture their prey on the wing. They are said to hunt after their food quite 

 late in the evening, though they are not -nocturnal in their habits. Their cry, which is usually 

 uttered when they are on the wing, is said to be a sound between a scream and a whistle. They 

 deposit their eggs, which are two or three in number, on the bare ground, without even 

 scratching a hole for their reception. These are oval in shape, pale ochreous or dull slate- 

 coloured, marbled and blotched with pale greyish brown and dark blackish brown. 



Glareola pratincola, the type of the genus, has the bill short, moderately stout, higher than 

 wide at the base, compressed towards the end ; culmen first straight, then decurved to the tip, 

 which is sharp, but slightly rounded ; gape-line commencing below the eyes, and arched ; nostrils 

 basal, lateral, oblong, oblique ; wings very long, pointed, the first quill longest ; tail long and 

 deeply forked ; legs moderately long, slender, the tibia bare for a short space, the tarsus reti- 

 culated ; hind toe small ; anterior toes moderately long, the centre ones much exceeding the 

 lateral ones in length ; claws slender, slightly arched and acute, that on the middle toe very long 

 and with the inner edge slightly pectinate. 



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