417 



standing with drooping wings, or running along the ground as if unable to fly. When once 

 upon the wing their flight was rapid and powerful, like that of a Tern. They are not, strictly 

 speaking, gregarious in their habits. We never found any thing like a colony of them upon any 

 one island. We rarely visited any of the numerous islands without finding at least one pair of 

 birds upon it ; and perhaps none of the islands contained more than half a dozen pairs, and they 

 would be scattered about at a distance from one another. They do not make any nest, but lay 

 their eggs upon the bare ground, seldom, if ever, taking the trouble to scratch a hollow or to 

 collect what dry grass or seaweed may be at hand. They seem studiously to avoid coarse grass 

 or rank herbage, and prefer to lay their eggs on the dried mud^ sheltered only by the straggling 

 plants of Salsola, which grow all over the lowest and wettest parts of the islands. The number 

 of eggs was usually two, occasionally three, and only in one instance four. The shell of the egg 

 is very thin. They are very oval, being scarcely more pointed at one end than the other. The 

 ground-colour varies from a citron or yellow ochre to pale slate. The eggs are very richly 

 spotted all over with streaks and blotches of dark brown, approaching black, in some instances 

 most so at the larger end. The underlying spots, of pale greyish brown, are usually very distinct, 

 and often impart great beauty to the egg, giving it a marbled appearance. They vary con- 

 siderably in size, from 1^§ by Iff inch to 1^ by Iff inch. A more usual measurement is 

 m by ft inch." 



I have a tolerably large series of eggs of this Pratincole from Spain and Algeria, all of 

 which have the ground-colour dull clay-ochre ; but otherwise they agree closely with the above 

 description given by Mr. Seebohm. One egg is unusually dark, and closely marked ; and in one 

 or two others the spots are smaller and more thinly scattered than in the others. 



The specimen figured to the left, on the same Plate with Glareola melanoptera, is an adult 

 bird obtained by myself near Barcelona, in Spain, in the month of May. I have not figured the 

 young bird, as it closely resembles the specimen of G. melanoptera which is figured, except that 

 the axillaries and under wing-coverts are red, not black. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. R. E. Dresser. 



a, 6 . Barcelona, May 5th, 1866 (H. E. D.) . b, d . Malta, June 7th, 1867 (C. A. Wright) . c, ? . Gennesaretli, 

 May 24th, 1864 (H. B. Tristram), d. Egypt [Cochrane), e. Egypt, April 15th, 1870 (G. E. Shelley). 

 f. Syria (Cochrane). 



E Mus. C. A. Wright, 

 a, 6,6,2, c, 6. Salini, Malta, May 1871 (C. A. Wright). d,2,e. Salini, Malta, April 25th, 1874 (CTA. 

 Wright) . 



E Mus. Ind. Calc. 

 a, 3 , b, 2 • Shiraz, Persia, June 1869 (Blanford). 



2l2 



