136 
AT.I.En’S naturalist’s LIBRAUA'. 
they make another circuit overhead, and the whole flock passes 
quietly away.” 
Colonel Irby writes : — “We found this bird in April, on the 
dried mud at the lakes of Meshree el Haddar, south of 
Laroche in Marocco, in countless thousands. They had not 
then begun to lay ; so possibly some of these swarms would 
pass on northwards. We there witnessed a number of these birds 
mobbing a Marsh-Harrier which had intruded on their ground, 
buffeting and bullying him just as Peewits will do when a 
Hawk passes near their breeding-ground. At times at least 
one hundred Pratincoles were dashing at once about the 
Harrier, which soon made its best way out of their district. 
Pratincoles are very crepuscular in their habits, flitting up and 
down over the surface of a river or pool much after the manner 
of the Indian Skimmer {Rhynchops alhicollis) very late in the 
evening— as late, indeed, as they can be distinguished. They 
are then silent, but by day especially when disturbed, their cry 
is ceaseless, and the Moorish name of ‘ Gharrak ’ is doubtless 
derived from, as it is suggestive of, their note. They are birds 
of powerful flight, reminding one much of the Terns in this 
respect.” In Greece, Mr. Seebohm found the Pratincoles less 
gregarious, and on the islands of the lagoon of Missolonghi he 
often met with single pairs nesting, and on none of them 
more than half a dozen pairs. 
Nest, — None, the eggs being laid in a depression in the 
ground, though, as often as not, there is no perceptible hole. 
Eggg. — Three in number, varying remarkably in colour and 
markings, which are sometimes so thickly distributed as to 
hide the ground-colour of the egg itself. This varies from 
a stony-buff to grey, creamy-buff, or clay-brown, and the black 
marks take the form of small or large spots or irregular 
blotches, and they are, as a rule, universally distributed over 
the egg. The underlying spots are faint purplish-grey, and 
are also spread indiscriminately over the egg. Axis, I'l-i'q 
inch ; diam., o-p-o’ps. 
THE WADERS. SUB-ORDER CHARADRII. 
In this Sub order are comprised all the Plovers, Sand- 
pipers, and Sniiics, generally known as Waders. They all have 
