PRATINCOLE

This article appears in Volume V22, Page 255 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: POL-PRE

PRATINCOLE , a word apparently invented by J. Latham (Synopsis, v. 222), being the English rendering of Pratincola, applied in 1756 by P. Kramer (Elenchus, p. 381) to a bird which had hitherto received no definite name, though it had long before been described and even recognizably figured by Aldrovandus (Ornithologia, xvii. 9) under the vague designation of " hirundo marina." It is the Glareola pratincola of modern ornithologists, forming the type of a genus Glareola, founded by M. J. Brisson in 176o, belonging to the group Limicolae, and constituting together with the coursers (Cursorius) a separate family, Glareolidae. The pratincoles, of which some eight or nine species have been described, are all small birds, slendetly built and mostly delicately coloured, with a short stout bill, a wide gape, long pointed wings,
and a tail more or less forked. In some of their habits they are thoroughly

plover

PLOVER

-like, running very swiftly and breeding on the ground, but on the wing they have much the

appearance

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

of swallows, and, like them, feed, at least partly, while flying.' The

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

pratincole of Europe, G. 'pratincola, breeds abundantly in many parts of Spain, Barbary and Sicily, along the valley of the Danube, and in southern Russia, while owing to its

great

GREAT

powers of flight it frequently wanders far from its

home

, and more than a score of examples have been recorded as occur-ring in the British Islands. In the

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

of Europe a second and closely-allied species, G. nordmanni or G. melanoptera, which has black instead of chestnut inner wing-coverts, accompanies or, farther to the eastward, replaces it; and in its turn it is replaced in India, China and Australia by G. orientalis. Australia also possesses another species, G. grallaria, remarkable for the

great

GREAT

length of its wings and much longer legs, while its tail is scarcely forkedpeculiarities that have led to its being considered the type of a distinct genus or sub-genus Stiltia. Two species, G. lactea and G. cinerea, from India and Africa respectively, seem by their

pale

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

coloration to be desert forms, and they are the smallest of this curious little group. The species whose mode of nidification is known lay either two or three eggs, stone-coloured, blotched, spotted, and streaked with black or brownish-grey. The

young

when hatched are clothed in down and are able to run at oncejust as are

young

plovers. (A. N.)

End of Article: PRATINCOLE

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/POL_PRE/PRATINCOLE.html">
PRATINCOLE
</a>

(Previous)
PRATINAS (the quantity of the second vowel is d...

(Next)
PRATO

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email