CREAM-COLOURED COURSER. Ill 



unlike many plovers, which by their noisy or fussy behaviour 

 reveal the presence of eggs or young. From the young bird, 

 with its large, apparently swollen heel (not knee) — the top of 

 the tarsus — the name Thick-knee is derived, though a similar 

 enlargement is present in many young plovers. 



The adult Stone-Curlew of either sex is sandy brown, streaked 

 with dark brown ; the chin, throat, and a line below the eye 

 are white. The neck, breast, and flanks are paler, and the 

 abdomen almost white and unstreaked ; the under tail-coverts 

 are reddish buff. The bill is yellow, black at the tip, the legs 

 greenish yellow, and the irides golden yellow. Young birds 

 have the bars on the tail more distinct than when mature. 

 Length, i6 ins. Wing, 9'5 ins. Tarsus, 3 ins. 



Family CURSORIID^. Coursers. 



Bill short and decurved ; three toes, the middle elongated. 



Cream-coloured Courser. Cursor'ms galHcus (Gmel.). 



The Cream-coloured Courser (Plate 46), not a native of 

 France though the type was obtained there, is an inhabitant of 

 sandy deserts in Africa and southern Asia, but wanders in 

 autumn into Europe, and quite a number — certainly over a 

 score — have been noticed, and mostly shot, in England and 

 Wales, and at least one in Scotland. 



The English name of this bird is descriptive ; it runs well, 

 and is noticeably light coloured. It is easy to identify ; there 

 is no mistaking the isabelline colour, the long, almost white 

 legs, curved bill, and white and black stripes on face and neck. 

 Being a desert- bird, it naturally remains on our sandy shores ; 

 it has seldom been noticed far from the coast, where it eats 

 insects and small molluscs. On the wing it is strong and swift, 

 and Mr. H. G. Alexander, who met with it on Dungeness beach, 



