Birds of CelelDes: Glareolidae. 
729 
Adult. Head, back and breast isabelbne, browner on head and inner remiges, paler on 
breast, sides of neck and face, nearly white on chin and throat, the feathers of the 
upper parts edged with rufous cinnamon; lores dusky; outer primaries and pri- 
mary-coverts black, the first quill with the shaft white, metacarpal edge brown 
and white; secondaries, and inner webs of the inner primaries, pale drab- 
brown; lower back and rump dark drab-brown; upper tail-coverts and basal 
part of rectrices white; terminal half of tail-feathers black, tip white, stained 
with the black, outermost rectrices almost entirely white; lower sides and abdomen 
deep maroon; hind flanks and under tail-coverts white; under wing-coverts 
and axillaries black; remiges below dusky; “mis Vandyke-brown; terminal part 
of bill black, base dark red; feet dark brown, nearly black” — Vorderman 7 
(ad., near Tondano, Aug. — Sept., 1892: Nat. Coll. — C 10831). 
Sex. Sexual differences of coloration have not yet been shoAvn to exist. Two specimens 
in the Dresden Museum, which, from their great length of wing, must be fully adult, 
have not the bill abruptedly divided into a black tip and red base; and a line of 
brown spots along the submalar region and across the jugulum, forming a horse-shoe, 
surrounds the whitish throat; these are perhaps adult females (Tondano — C 10838, 
Manado — 0 10938). A specimen marked Q in the Sarasin Collection (Macassar) 
is not so characterized. 
Young of the year. Like the adult, but rather browner above, breast paler and with dark 
centre- spots to the feathers, abdomen paler chestnut; bill black, hardly redder at 
the base; outer remiges less elongated (near Tondano — ■ C 10836). 
Chick. Covered with down, closely resembling the earth on which it is hatched (Bennett a 9). 
Measurements (8 adults). Wing 190 — 213 nun; tail 56 — 65; tarsus 45 — 50; bill from nostril 10. 
Eggs. 2 (sometimes 3). “The egg in my Collection coming from inner Australia measures 
30.5 X 26 mm. The ground-colour is clay-yellow. Pale grey subjacent and dark 
grey to brownish superjacent spots are evenly distributed over the whole egg without 
forming a circlet. The shell is rough to the touch, and without gloss” (Nehrkorii 
MS.). Creamy-white, dull light stone-colour, or bght buff, well covered with irre- 
gularly shaped blotches, dots, and spots, and freckles of dull umber and dark sienna- 
brown, with a few dots and dashes almost black, and obsolete spots here and there 
of slaty grey; in shape shghtly swollen at the thicker end and not pointed; size 
33 X 25.4 mm (from Eamsay a 8, figured by North a XIV]. 
Nest. None. The eggs are deposited on the bare ground (Bennett a 9). 
Breeding season. Commences in New South Wales in October or sometimes September 
(Bennett a 9). 
Distribution. Austraha — from Cape York to inner Australia and New South Wales 
(Ramsay, etc. a 12)', New Guinea, Aru, Kei, Salawatti, Waigiou, Tijor, Burn, 
Obi major (cf. Salvadori e 1)', Celebes — Gorontalo District (Meyer a 5 and 
in Dresd. Mus.), Minahassa (Nat. Coll.), S. Peninsula (Meyer e 4, Weber a 16, 
P. & F. Sarasin 5); Peling Id. (Nat. Coll, in Dresd. Mus.); Timor (Riedel 4); Rotti 
(ten Kate a 15); Flores (Semmelink a 4); Java (Kuhl and van Hasselt a 4); 
Billiton (Vorderman 7, 8); Borneo (Schwaner a 4). 
This curious bird is easily distinguished from other Pratincoles by the greater 
length of its tarsus, which is considerably more than twice the length of the 
middle toe without the claw. Its nearest affinities are probably with Glareola 
orientalis in which the tarsus is only one and a half times the length of the 
Meyer & Wiglesworth Birds of Colehes (Dec. Ist 1897). 92 
