THE BLACK-WINGED PRATINCOLE 



THE BLACK-WINGED PRATINCOLE. 



G /areola melanoptera, Nordmann. 

 Plate 62. 



This species inhabits the steppes of Southern Russia, ranging westwards to 

 Hungary and eastwards as far as Turkestan, and migrates for the winter to tropical 

 and South Africa. The Black-winged Pratincole is a very rare visitor to England, 

 where it has only been obtained four times, the first on Romney Marsh, Kent, 

 May 30th, 1903, the next in the same locality, June 17, 1903, another at Rye on the 

 following day, and the last near Northallerton, Yorkshire, on August 17th, 1909. 

 It differs chiefly from the Common Pratincole in having the under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries black instead of chestnut, and has no white on the secondaries. 



According to the late H. E. Dresser's Birds of Europe, " In its habits and mode 

 of nidification, the present species closely agrees with Glareola pratincola, and like 

 that bird it frequents the open steppes and treeless localities." 



The eggs are not unlike those of the Common Pratincole, but the ground-colour 

 is usually a rather deeper ochre, with bolder markings. 



THE CREAM-COLOURED COURSER. 

 Cursorius gallicus (J. F. Gmelin). 

 Plate 62. 



The Cream-coloured Courser is a rare straggler to Great Britain, some twenty 

 occurrences having been recorded in England and Wales and one in Scotland. 

 The habitat of this desert bird stretches from the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands, 

 across the sands of North Africa, Arabia, and Persia, and in winter includes North- 

 west India. 



No nest is made, the two eggs, of a yellowish stone-colour, marbled and dotted 

 with markings of brown and grey, are laid in some slight depression among the 

 stones and sand, and owing to their colour are very difficult to find. Mr. E. G. 

 Meade- Waldo, in his " Notes on the Birds of the Canary Islands," published in 

 The Ibis for 1889, says : "The young are much easier to find than the eggs. The 

 hen only remains at the nest whilst she is sitting ; the cocks either go about in little 



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