N E STl NG IN / 1 ' EST W H N IMn i 1 •• 



840.— THE INDIAN COURIER PLOVER. 



Cursor iits coroinande/iciis, Gm. 

 In Upper Sind the Indian Courier Plover is comparatively rare, 

 « big replaced to a great extent by the European Courser. 



I have myself however observed the present species as far north 

 us the plain near the Chota Polan Pass. 



Mi*! Doig found the present species breeding in the Eastern Narra. 

 Mr. Davidson records it from Khandeish. 



It is common in suitable places in the Deccan and the rest of 

 Western India, with the exception of Ratnagiri and Kanara, where 



it is rare. 



It frequents open sandy plains and cultivated ground, before the 

 crops are much grown, and again after they are reaped, when the fields 

 are covered with stubble. They avoid marshy and forest tracts, and 

 do not ascend the hills. 



I believe it is more or less a permanent resident where it occurs, 

 but the only place where I have personally taken eggs is at 

 Neemuch, where the birds are very common ; at times flocks of them 

 come on the parade ground, quite close to the barracks, and on the 

 large open plain near the Parsee Tower of Silence they simply swarm 

 at all times of the year. 



The eggs, two in number, occasionally three, are deposited on the 

 ground in small hollows scraped by the birds themselves, in the most 

 open places, and without the slightest pretence to a nest. 



They are, however, very difficult to find, as they assimilate so closely 

 in colour with the groimd on which they are lying. I have often 

 all but trodden upon them, while searching for them, although I 

 knew from the movements of the birds, that eggs were close at hand. 



They are almost spherical in shape, measuring about D19 in length 

 by about 0*97 in breadth ; the ground-colour varies from cream to 

 bright buff, or yellowish-stone colour, and they are blotched and 

 spotted with pale inky-grey, and above this are lines, scratches, and 

 streaks of dark-, or blackish-brown. These markings are generally 

 small and close set, with an occasional inky-black smudge or smear 

 intermingled. 



Neemuch, March and April. H. E. Barnes, 



Eastern Narra, Sind, July. B. S. J)ouj. 



