PRATINCOLE. 



387 



POST BIRD. — A Kentish name for the Beam Bird. 

 PRATINCOLE {Glareola torquata, Meyer.) 



ADULT. 



*Glareola torquata, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 2. p. 404 — Glareole a Collier, Temm. 



Man. d'Orn. 2. p. 500. — Hirundo Pratincola, Linn. Syst. p. 345. sp. 12. 



Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 695. — Bullock, in Trans, of Linn. Soc. 11. p. 177. — Glareola, 

 Briss. 5. p. 141. t. 12. f. 1.— Hirundo marina, Rail, Syn. p. 72 — Will. p. 156. 



—La Perdrix de Mer, Briss. Orn. 5. p. 141. f. 1 Buff. Ois. 7. p. 544.— lb. 



pi. Enl. 882 — Das Rothfussige Sandhuhn, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. p. 457. t. 

 13. — Austrian Pratincole, Lath. Syn. 5. p. 222. t. 85.— Mont. Orn. Diet, and 

 Supp. 



YOUNG. 



Glareola Austriaca, Senegalensis, et Naevia, Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 695. sp. 1. 2. and 3. 



Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 753. and 754. sp. 1. 2. and 3. and the varieties Briss. 



3. p. 147. and 148 — Glareola torquata, lb. 5. p. 145 La Peidrix de Mer, La 



Grise, La Brune, et La Giarole, Buff. Ois. 7. p. 544. et 545. — Das Braunrin- 

 gige Sandhuhn, und Gefleckte Sandhuhn, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. p. 461. var. 

 A. and B — Collared, Corornandel, Senegal, Spotted, and other varieties, Lath. 

 Syn. 5. p. 224. and 225 Selby, pi. 63. p. 322 * 



A bird of this species was shot near Liverpool, on the 18th of May, 

 1804, as we have been assured by Mr. Bullock, to whom the bird was 

 brought before it was cold, which specimen is now in the collection of 

 Lord Stanley. It was shot in the act of taking- beetles on the wing-, 

 the remains of which were found in its stomach. 



The length is about ten inches. Bill black, short, convex, or arched ; 

 the upper mandible pointed, slightly hooked, and longest ; under man- 

 dible at the base, and corners of the mouth coral-red ; irides said to be 

 reddish ; the colour of the plumage on the upper parts of the bird is 

 brown ; the crown of the head, and the neck above, are tinged with 

 rufous ; the back and scapulars, slightly dashed with greenish-bronze : 

 the throat is yellowish-buff ; from the lower part of the eye originates 

 a black line, which passes round below the throat, and encircles that 

 part : across the lower neck, and upper breast, the feathers are rufous- 

 brown ; the lower breast buff, like the throat ; the belly, sides of the 

 rump, and coverts of the tail, both above and below, are white ; the 

 wings are very long, and formed like those of a swallow, being ex- 

 tremely narrow, and having the first feather the longest ; the prime 

 quills are dusky-brown ; the secondaries are paler, slightly tipped with 

 white ; the tertials and coverts, like the scapulars ; along the edge of 

 the wing, close to the spurious wing, is whitish ; the under coverts of 

 the wings are partly bright ferruginous, and partly black, the middle 

 series being of the former colour : the long feathers on the sides of the 

 body, close to the junction of the wings, called the under scapulars, are 

 also of the same ferruginous colour : the tail, like the common swallow, 

 is greatly forked, the feathers more or less white at the base, with their 

 ends dusky-brown, but the last does not occupy above one third of 



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