GLAREOLA, Lath. &c. PRATINCOLE.
Bill short, convex, compressed towards the tip ; upper mandible curved from the half of its length, and notchless; nostrils basal, lateral, and obliquely cleft ; legs feathered to the knee ; tarsi long and slender, the middle toe united to the outer by a short membrane, and the inner separate; claws long and subulate ; wings very long.
The pratincoles inhabit the warm and temperate re gions of the old continent, affecting the banks of fresh and limpid waters, and very rarely appearing on the sea-shore. Their principal food is aquatic worms and very small in sects. They run with great agility, and are capable of long and rapid flights. They moult twice in the year ; but their winter garb is not very dissimilar from that of summer. The various species enumerated by Gmclin, Buffon, and Latham, are referable to the torquata ; and only two others have been more recently discovered, the one in Southern Asia, and the other in Bengal.
G. torquata, Meyer, Tern. G. 4ustriaca, Sencgalensis, and ncrvia, Gmel. Lath. Hirundo firatincola, Lin. ?ustrian
Pratincole. Grey-brown above, collar black, chin and throat white, breast and belly reddish-grey ; tail much forked. Length nine inches, and from three to six lines. It is subject to considerable variety of plumage. Inhabits the banks of large rivers, inland seas, and lakes, in the provinces which confine on Asia, and in the southern countries of that vast continent ; is common on the salt lakes and extensive marshes of Hungary ; and is a stated or accidental passenger in some parts of Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy, but is extremely rare in Holland and Great Britain. Mr. Bullock shot a specimen in Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland islands, and another, we believe, was shot near Liverpool. It darts, with won derful rapidity, on flies and other insects that live among the reeds and rushes, and seizes them either as it runs or flies. It is restless and clamorous ; and the female lays from three to seven eggs in the thickest and tallest tufts of herbage.