GL AREOLA ORIENT ALLS. 
981 
a white orbital fringe ; quills and terminal portion of tail (deepest on the centre) blackish brown, illumined with 
green on the latter part ; 1st primary-shaft white; breast pale rufous or tawny, blending into the brownish of the 
chest, which changes into the white of the lower parts, basal portion of tail, and upper tail-coverts ; axillary plume 
and secondary under wing-coverts, which are much elongated, dark chestnut ; primary under-coverts blackish 
brown ; edges of feathers beneath the metacarpus white. 
Young. The chick is a “ mixed pepper-and-salt colour, the black preponderating” (Oates). 
Birds of the year have the wing about 7-2 inches ; bill, with the base of the under mandible and the margin of the 
upper at the gape not so red as in the adult. 
The brown of the head and upper surface paler and margined with fulvous, the hind neck much pervaded, with the 
latter, the buff of the throat not so pure as in the adult, and the feathers tipped with black, forming strise, except 
at the chin ; the black border is not clearly defined, and the white inner edge not distinct ; chest a darker 
brown, and the feathers edged fulvous ; breast less rufous, and the colour more confined to the centre, the sides 
being dusky ; the outer under wing-coverts are edged with black, instead of being entirely chestnut. It ith age 
the black points on the buff throat disappear, but the gorgot and white inner edge do not become clearly defined 
until the bird is matured ; the chest loses its pale edgings, and the under wing-coverts become richer. 
Ohs. Ceylon specimens of this interesting species correspond well with Indian and continental birds. A Bangkok 
specimen, however, has the secondaries slightly tipped with white, though it corresponds in other respects with 
examples from Ceylon : it measures 7T> inches in the wing ; fork of tail l’O. 
G. orientalis differs from the European species ( G. pratincola) in its less forked tail aud in the absence of white tipping 
to the secondaries and paler head, besides which it is a smaller bird. In the latter the head is concolorous with 
the back, and has a sandy hue on the nape and hind neck. Four specimens from Africa and Southern Europe 
measure in the wing 7'5, 7 - 5, 7’6, 7‘8 inches respectively ; the depth of the fork of the tail varies from 2‘ 0 to 2'.i. 
Glareola nordmanni, a Central- Asiatic species, lias black axillaries and under wing-coverts, like G. lactea, is very 
similar on the upper surface to the two foregoing, but differs beneath in being greyish white from the chest 
downwards ; the chest is light brown, and the throat paler than in the Indian bird ; the secondaries, like it, want 
the pale tipping. Wing 7-5 inches. 
G. grallaria, Temm., from Australia and some of the Malay islands, is characterized by its large size, square tail, and 
' long legs. A Bouru example measures 8-0 inches in the wing, tail 2-5, tarsus 1-9. The under wing is black, and 
the flanks deep maroon. 
Distribution. As yet this fine Swallow-Plover has been found in very few localities in Ceylon. Kelaart 
includes it in his list, but from what district it is not stated, and subsequent observers seem to have passed 
it over. I met with it, for the first time that it was ever satisfactorily identified in the island, at Minery tank, 
on the 10th of July, 1875 ; and the first example shot was a female in a state of breeding. In the following 
month it was found in considerable numbers on the western shores of Kanthelai tank, accompanied by young, 
which had evidently been reared in that spot. I conclude that it breeds yearly about the grassy lands 
surrounding these large sheets of water; and probably some remain there throughout the year while their 
companions depart for other spots suitable to their habits in unfrequented portions of the island. That it 
wanders about is proved by the fact of an example having been procured on the Galle face, Colombo, by 
Mr. MacVicar, since my departure from the island. The specimen in question was observed by this gentleman 
flying about the beach on the 10th of September, 1876, and is now in the Colombo Museum. 
I will not undertake to assert, however, that it is a permanent resident in Ceylon, as it is everywhere a 
bird of local and uncertain distribution ; and it is possible that during the early part of 1875, at the time of 
bird-migration, large flocks may have gone south to Ceylon and remained there during the monsoon to breed. 
By Jerdon it was said to be “found throughout India in suitable places, but chiefly in the cold weather;” 
but to this statement Mr. Hume takes exception, and writes in 1874 (‘ Stray FeathA p. 285) “ My expe- 
rience does not corroborate this ” (Jerdon’s) “view of the distribution of this species. I have never heard of 
this species occurring in Sindh, the Punjab, Rajpootana, or the Central Provinces, and it is of extreme rarity, 
as far as my experience goes, both in Oudh and the North-west Provinces ; almost the only place in which I 
Pave known it to occur within these latter provinces has been along the Ganges from Futtehgurh downwards, 
and there only in small numbers and at comparatively rare intervals.” Mr. Doig, however, has recently met 
with it in Sindh. 
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