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 Pratiricola, Linn. Syst. p. 345. sp. 12. — 
Gmel. Syst, l.p. 695. — Bullock, in Trans, of Linn. Soc. 11. p. 177. — Glareola, 
Briss. 5. p. 141. t. 12. f. 1. — Hirundo marina, llaii, 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, Ih. 5. p. 145. — La Perdrix de Mer, La 
Grise, La Biune, 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, Coromandel, Senegal, Spotted, and other varieties, LmBi. 
Syn. 5. p. 224. and 225 Selby, pi. 63. p. 322.* 
A bird of this species was shot near Liverpool, on the 1 8th of May, 
1804, as we have been assured by Mr. Bullock, to whom the bird was 
broug’ht 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 
c c 2 
