472 
PLOVER GROUP. 
tail-coverts, and the serration of the claw of the third toe. The group is confined 
to the Old World, where it is represented in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia; 
but the majority of the species are tropical. Like the coursers, the pratincoles 
feed almost exclusively on insects, although they differ from those allies in 
capturing their prey while on the wing. They frequent sandy plains or marshes, 
and the banks of rivers and lakes, as well as lagoons. At all times of the year 
they associate in flocks, although each male selects but a single partner. 
The common pratincole, which is the typical representative of the genus, is 
common pratincole (i nat. size). 
a small bird measuring from 9 to 10 inches in length, and inhabiting the 
warmer parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa; an occasional straggler rarely 
reaching the British Islands. In colour most of the upper-parts are clove-brown; 
the primaries nearly black; the upper tail-coverts white; the feathers of 
the deeply- forked tail white at the base, and elsewhere brownish black; the 
chin white; the throat pale buff, bordered by a black line ascending to the 
eye: the breast brownish buff; the under-parts and thighs bufhsh white; and 
the under wing-coverts and axillaries 1 chestnut. The especial characteristics of 
the species are the great length of the outer tail-feathers, and the chestnut 
axillaries. Nordmann’s pratincole (6r. melanoptera), which inhabits a large area 
1 The long and stiff under wing-coverts lying nearest to the armpit. 
