In this state it appears to be La l'erdrix do Mer h Collier, la grise, In Brune, et In Giarole of Sonnini, of Buffon ; La Perdrix de Mer des Maldives, de Coromandel, et de Madras, of Sonnerat; Das Braun ringige Sandhuhu, and Gefleckte Sandhuhn, of Bechstein; and Collared and further varieties of Pratincole of Latham.
"The genus (aureola," says Mr. Gould in his great work on the 'Birds of Europe,' "appears to be strictly confined to the Old World, no transatlantic example having ever been discovered, nor indeed are we aware of any form in the ornithology of America which at all approaches the present Three species are all that are as yet disco vered. Of these, two (the G. grallaria and the G. lactea) are peculiar to the eastern provinces of Asia and Africa ; the other, the bird now before us (C. iorquata), is spread throughout the warm and temperate regions not only of these coutioents, but Europe also : hence it would seem as if nature endeavoured to makeup by extent of habitat for the limitation of species. Still however, although thus diffused, the Prantincole may be said to be truly a native of the eastern provinces of Europe on the Asiatic borders, and especially Hungary, where wide tracts of morns. and flat lands, abounding in lakes both fresh and saline, and traversed by mighty rivers, afford it food and security. ' In Hungary,' Nays M. Tenuniuck, 'among the immense morasses of the lakes Neusidel and Balaton, I have been in the midst of many hundreds of these birds;' end we might add that it is no leas abundant in Western Tartary. In England it is only an occasional visitor ; but in Germany, France, and Italy, it is a bird of periodical occurrence." M. Temminck, in the hod part of his ' Manuel,' states that it breeds in Sardinia, and that it is very abuudant in Dalmatia, on the borders of the lake Boccagnaro, on its spring passage. The eggs he describes as being yellowish-white. "With the long wings and forked tail of the swallow "—we again quote Mr. Gould—" the Prenticole possesses that rapidity and power of flight for which the bird is so remarkable. It takes its food, which consists of insects, and especially such as frequent marshes and the borders of rivers, while on the wing, darting along in the chase with the rapidity of an arrow ; nor is it leas distinguishable for celerity on the ground, and often catches its prey as it nimbly runs along. This elegant and graceful bird
incubates in the concealment afforded by reeds, osiers, and tall herbage, laying three or four white eggs." A pair of Pratincoles were shot at Yarmouth in 1827 ; another in Wilbrahan Fen in Cambridgeshire in 1835 ; and a specimen at Blakeney in Norfolk, in May, ISIS.
Squatarola, Cuvier. Bill rather strong, cylindrical, straight, nearly as long as the head; the tip or horny part about half the length of the whole bill, tumid and arched, with the tomia bending inwards ; nasal grooves wide, half the length of the bill ; mesorhinium depressed below the level of the tip; nostrils longitudinally pierced in the membrane of the groove, linear, oblong. Wings rather long, acuminate, with the first quill-feather the longest. Legs slender, of mean length, naked above the tarsal joint ; feet four-toed, three before and one behind ; front toes joined at their base by a membrane, that portion of it between the outer and middle toe being the longest ; hind toe very small or rudimental ; tarsi reticulated. Plumage thick, close, and adpressed. (Gould.) S. cincrea (Tringa Squatarola, Linn.), the Bastard or Gray Plover.
Adult Male and Female, Winter Plumage.—Front, throat, middle of the belly, thigh, abdomen, and upper coverts of the tail, pure white ; space above the eye, front of the neck, sides of the beast and sides, white, varied with brown and ashy spots ; upper parts blackish brown, variegated with greenish-yellow spots, but the whole of the feathers terminated with ash-colour and whitish ; long internal feathers of the wings deep black ; lower coverts of the tail marked on their external barbs with small diagonal brown bands; tail white, but reddish towards the cud, striped with brown bands, which are pale and few, and placed on the lateral feathers; bill black ; iris blackish ; feet ashy-black. Length rather more than 10 inches.