Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/29

 and warm portions of the eastern hemisphere, and frequent the borders of lakes and rivers in the vicinity of mountains. Like the Swallow, they seek their insect prey whilst upon the wing, or from the surface of the ground, over which they run with great rapidity. The eggs, three or four in number, are deposited in a slight nest placed among rushes or thick marshy herbage.

THE COMMON THICK-KNEE, OR STONE CURLEW (Œdicnemus crepitans).

THE COLLARED PRATINCOLE.

The (Glareola pratincola) is a beautiful bird, about ten inches long and twenty-two inches and a half broad, with the wing measuring seven inches, and the tail, at the centre of the fork, two inches and a half. The upper portions of the body are greyish brown, the wings, lower breast, and under side white; the reddish yellow throat is encircled by a brown ring, and the head is brownish grey; the tail-feathers and quills are tipped with black. The eye is dark brown, the beak black, with bright red corners, and the foot blackish brown. The male and female are almost alike in size. This bird inhabits Northern Africa, and the countries watered by the Don, the Volga, and the Caspian and Black Seas; and although it periodically visits France, is rarely seen in Great Britain. Everywhere it occupies the margins of rivers and lakes, equally frequenting the vicinity of fresh and salt water. The Collared Pratincole flies with great ease and swiftness, and indulges in a variety of graceful evolutions whilst on the wing; upon the ground its walk, though rapid, is seldom prolonged, and every step is accompanied by a constant whipping with the tail. Its food consists principally of aquatic insects, but it seizes its prey with equal facility on land, from the surface of the water or in the air; indeed, it is not uncommon to see one of these active little birds dart to a height of several feet into the air, in order to seize a passing fly. It consumes locusts in