ones, in being, if any thing, a trifle less in size, in lacking the white tips to the secondaries, and 

 in being generally less grey and more rufous in tinge of colour, especially on the underparts of 

 the body, the breast being washed with rufous ochre. 



In its habits the Pratincole somewhat resembles the Plovers ; but it is often met with at 

 some distance from water, on the sand-plains and in open desert places. It runs with ease, and 

 appears to obtain a large portion of its food on the ground, though it very frequently catches the 

 insects on which it feeds on the wing. It feeds exclusively on insects, chiefly coleoptera, and is 

 said to hunt after food in the dusk of the evening. The late Captain Rowland M. Sperling said 

 that he had observed numbers hawking after insects over the fields, flying at a height of about 

 twenty feet, and continually uttering a sound between a low scream and a whistle ; and Captain 

 Shelley, who saw numbers on the Nile, says (B. of Egypt, p. 227) that he " sometimes observed 

 them on the bare fields, but more frequently by the sides of small pools or on the numerous 

 sandbanks of the river. The flight is very peculiar and varied, the birds at times passing rapidly 

 through the air in flocks, like Plovers, or else floating at a considerable height with outspread 

 wings, or, again, playing over the water after the manner of Terns. When I first saw a single 

 specimen of this bird rise from a small pool, I should have taken it for a Green Sandpiper, which 

 it closely resembled in the colour of its back and flight, had it not been for the greater length of 

 the pinions." 



Mr. Salvin, who found it in the tablelands of the interior of Algeria, frequenting the salt- 

 lakes and freshwater-marshes, says (Ibis, 1859, p. 354), "its fearless manner and familiar habits 

 cause it to rank high among the interesting birds of the country ; and I remember few that 

 I have watched with greater pleasure. When in proximity to their nests, the whole flock 

 come wheeling and screaming round, while some dart passionately down to within a few feet of 

 the intruder's head, retiring again to make another descent. When the first transports of 

 excitement are over, they all alight one by one on the ground. Some stand quite still, watching 

 with inquiring gaze ; while others stretch themselves out, first expanding one wing, then the 

 other, and, sitting down, extend both legs. In this position they remain some seconds as if dead, 

 when, suddenly springing up, they make another circuit overhead, and the whole flock passes 

 quietly away." 



The Pratincole breeds in Southern Europe and Northern Africa, making no regular nest, 

 but merely depositing its eggs, three in number, in a depression in the sand ; and Mr. Salvin 

 remarks that they are usually placed with their axes parallel. The breeding-season appears to 

 be in May or early in June. My friend Mr. H. Seebohm sends me, as usual, the following 

 excellent notes on the breeding-habits of the present species, which he met with in Greece and 

 Asia Minor: — "I found Glareola prafdncola breeding in considerable numbers on the islands in 

 the lagoons of Missolonghi in 1873, and in a precisely similar locality a little to the north of the 

 entrance to the Gulf of Smyrna in 1872. In the former locality I found plenty of fresh eggs in 

 the last week of May ; and in the latter most of the eggs were almost ready to hatch in the 

 second week of June. At Missolonghi the birds were wild, flying round us uttering their 

 peculiar cry before we landed on the islands. In Asia Minor, on the other hand, they were 

 evidently sitting hard, and allowed us to land and approach them before they left their nests. 

 They then evidently attempted to lure us away from their treasures, by feigning lameness, 



