GLAREOLA ORIENTALIS, Leaca. 
Oriental Pratincole. 
Glareola Orientalis, Leach in Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. pp. 132, 187. tab. xi. fig. 1. male, fig. 2. female.—Less. 
Traité d’Orn., p. 541.—List of Birds in Brit. Mus Coll., part iii. p. 62. 
Oriental Pratincole, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ix. p. 365. 
A sMmALL collection of birds presented to the Linnean Society in the early part of 1827 by Alexander 
MacLeay, Esq., of Sydney, comprised a pair of these birds ; unfortunately the whole were unaccompanied 
by any information as to the part of Australia in which they had been procured, but as all the other species 
were peculiar to the eastern and northern parts of the continent, it is reasonable to infer that the present 
bird was also killed in one or other of those localities. The true habitat of the Oriental Pratincole is India 
and the neighbouring islands ; it is most likely, therefore, that its visits to Australia are only occasional. 
Crown and all the upper surface olive ; primaries brownish black ; secondaries black, glossed with green ; 
tail-coverts and tail white, the apical portion of the latter black ; throat white, encircled by a broken ring 
of black ; chest greyish brown; upper part of the abdomen crossed by an indistinct band of buff, which 
gradually fades into the white of the vent and under tail-coverts ; under surface of the wing rich deep rust- 
red; bill black; gape yellow ; feet blackish brown. 
The young of the year is similar in colour, but much paler, and has only an indication of the ring 
surrounding the throat. 
The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size. 
