CREAM-COLOURED COURSER 109 



protective asset by running about, and drawing 

 attention to itself by continually uttering its peculiar 

 cry. And when it rises and flies off, as it frequently 

 does, in little bands or parties, all utter the same 

 note with incessant, noisy reiteration. I first saw 

 this bird when riding across the desert towards 

 Kosseir on the Red Sea, and I well remember my 

 surprise at seeing how completely different was the 

 position assumed by the birds to that which all 

 the pictures with which I was familiar had led me 

 to expect. It runs about very high on the legs, 

 and every other moment lifts its body up nearly 

 perpendicularly, looking sharply round right and 

 left before again making another quick little run 

 in search of some speck of food. It struck me as 

 being a peculiarly cheery little bird, and seemed 

 to be of a sociable nature, always being in little 

 parties, and often when they all rose together they 

 would be quickly joined by some others, who had 

 been before out of sight, and together they would 

 go wheeling about in mid-air, mounting high up 

 into the sky, till the eye unaided lost sight of 

 them, but all the time their whereabouts was 

 certain, because of their most musical, reiterated 

 cry, which somewhat resembles that of the Sand 

 Grouse. 



