419 



GLAEEOLA MELANOPTEEA. 



(NORDMANN'S PRATINCOLE.) 



Glareola pratincola, Pall. Zoogr. Eosso-As. ii. p. 150 (1831). 



Glareola, var., Nordmann, Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosc. xvii. p. 450, "Odessa" (1834). 



Glareola melanoptera, Nordmann, op. cit. ii. p. 314 (1842). 



Glareola nordmanni, Fischer, torn. cit. p. 314, pi. 2 (1842). 



" Glareola pallasii, Bruch." Schleg. Rev. Grit. p. lxxxi. et p. 91 (1844). 



Tircushka stepnaya, Russian. 



Figuroe notabiles. 



Nordmann, I. c. ; Gould, B. of Asia, pi. 2 ; Fritsch, Vog. Eur. taf. 33, figs. 9, 10 ; Gurney, 

 Ibis, 1868, pi. viii. 



6 ad. Glareola pratincole simillimus, sed subalaribus et axillaribus nigris nee castaneis, remigibus secundariis 

 saturate branneis nee albo apicatis, corpore supra et pectore saturatioribus distinguendus. 



Adult Male (Djeddah, Red Sea). Resembles Glareola pratincola, except tbat tbe upper parts are rather 

 darker, the breast and flanks also being more darkly coloured, the secondaries are not tipped with 

 white, and the under wing-coverts and axillaries are jet-black instead of chestnut-red. Total length 

 about 95 inches, culmen 0"75, wing 7"3, tail 4 - 3, tarsus 1*4. 



Bird of the year (Turkey, 19th October) . Resembles the adult, excepting that the feathers on the upper 

 parts are slightly edged with fulvous, and the black fine enclosing the throat of the adult is wanting, 

 the throat being dirty ochre-yellow, marked with black, and the breast is marked with blackish. 



I^r Europe the present species of Pratincole is only found in those countries which lie in the 

 extreme east, and, so far as I can ascertain, has not occurred west of Turkey ; but in Africa it 

 has been met with as far south as the Cape of Good Hope. 



It is said to have occurred in Greece ; but there appears to be no proof of its ever having 

 been met with there. I have several specimens obtained near Constantinople by Mr. Robson. 



In Russia it appears to occur as far north as 56^° N. lat. Mr. Sabanaeff informs me that he 

 met with it on the eastern slopes of the Ural as far north as that, and he thinks that it breeds in 

 the Shadrinsk district; Eversmann, he says, states that its northern limits are in 54° N. lat.; 

 Bogdanoff found it breeding in the district of Menzelinsk, and gives as the boundaries of its 

 range the Belaga and Kama rivers ; but Falk met with it on the Ufa nearly a hundred years 

 ago. Jacovleff says that it breeds near Astrachan ; there are specimens from the Ural and the 

 Caspian in the Leyden Museum ; and Dr. E. Eversmann, in his notes on the ornithology of 

 Russia, says (J. f. O. 1853, p. 293) that all the Pratincoles he observed there belonged to the 

 present species, which is very common in the steppes. He further states that the eggs are white, 



