PN RO DU Cl LON

Genus GLAREOLA.

; i ee ‘ies known are all confined to t Tor
An isolated form among the Plovers. The six or seven species known are all c he Old World.

Their chief food consists of insects, which they capture on the wing, after the manner of the Swallow.

In speaking of an allied species (G. melanoptera), Mr. J. H. Gurney, in Andersson’s ‘ Birds of Damara
Land,’ quotes the following from ‘The Field’ newspaper of February 26th, 1870:—*<The principal
enemy of these great swarms (of locusts), and the valued friend of the Cape farmer, is the small locust.
bird, Glareola Nordmanni .... . These birds come, I may say, in millions, attendant on the flying
swarms of locusts; indeed the appearance of a few of them is looked upon as a sure presage of the
locust-swarms being at hand. Their mode of operation, as I saw it, was as follows :—They intercept
a portion of the swarm and form themselves into a ring of considerable height, regularly widening
towards the top, so as to present the appearance of a revolving balloon or huge spinning-top. They thus fly
one over the other, and, hawking at the locusts, gradually contract their circle and speedily demolish the
locusts within its limits. As their digestion, like that of all insectivorous birds, is very rapid, the form in
which they thus enclose their prey is admirably adapted to enable the lower to escape the droppings of the
upper birds. When they have consumed this portion of the swarm, they follow up the main body and
commence another attack, and so on, until night sets in and the birds happen to lose the swarm or the
locusts are all devoured. I should not forget to mention that the beak of these birds is exactly of such a
shape and such dimensions that when they seize the locusts the snap cuts off the four wings, anda passer by
sees a continual shower of locusts’ wings falling on the ground. At another time, when I was stationed at
Fort Peddie, and the country was suffering from the effects of a long drought and was overrun with unusual
quantities of ants and grasshoppers, we were visited by thousands of these birds, which remained many days
devouring these pests. Though the locust-birds are excellent eating, no one ever thinks of destroying them ;
and they were so fearless that, though I often rode or ran amongst them to test their tameness, only a few in
ny immediate vicinity would rise, the rest continuing to feed; but every ten minutes or so the whole mass
would rise of their own accord and fly, first a few yards to the right and then to the left, in a slanting
direction, presenting alternately a black and white wave of birds some miles in length, a sight never to be

forgotten by the spectator.”

265. GLAREOLA PRATINCOLA : : Vol. IV. Pl. XLVI.

Common Prarinco.e.

An accidental visitor to the British Isles.