especially as the sun begins to sink, hawking for insects 

 over the marsh -lands and corn-fields in every direction. 

 Its favourite breeding-localities are the vast open and 

 almost entirely barren expanses of mud that have been 

 under water during the late autmnn and winter, and 

 become dry and baked hard by the sun of March and 

 April. In these localities the Pratincole lays two or 

 three eggs side by side, without any attempt at a nest, 

 during the first fortnight of May. These eggs are very 

 unlike those of any Plover with whicb I am acquainted, 

 although the authorities have (in my opinion) rightly 

 classed the Glareolidce between the Stone-Curlews and 

 the Coursers. In flight, cry, and general habit of life 

 the present bird much resembles the Marsh-Terns, and 

 its eggs have a certain resemblance to those of some 

 of that group. Linnseus, who had classed it with the 

 Swallows before having seen it, on receiving a specimen 

 from Gibraltar, wrote of it : — " Ad Grallas spectat, et 

 proprii generis est " (Yarrell's ' British Birds,' 4th ed. 

 vol. iii. p. 236). During the heat of the day these 

 birds for the most part remain upon the ground, either 

 basking in the sun or running swiftly in pursuit of 

 beetles and other insects, though some are at all times 

 haw^king over the plains. Towards sunset they all 

 become active, and may be seen skimming and hovering 

 at no great height in every direction, and continue on 

 wing long after darkness has set in. In my experience 

 the Pratincole is rather a silent bird, except when 

 disturbed in its breeding-haunts, when it is very 

 clamorous and utters a harsh, rapidly repeated cry, 

 which to my ears resembles that of some of the smaller 



