Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Cursorius. 119 



typical form holds a position intermediate (at least in colour) 

 between the other two. It is a resident in Soutli Africa 

 as far north as Damara Land and the Transvaal ; but as 

 Heuglin records an example from the White Nile (though 

 the exact locality is doubtful) it may also occur throughout 

 Central Africa. 



Hartlaub^s Courser is only a pale form of Levaillant's 

 Courser and is also slightly smaller. The feathers of the 

 upper parts are margined with nearly white instead of buff, 

 and the ground-colour of the underparts shows the same 

 difference. It inhabits Benguela, meeting the typical form 

 in Damara Land, where intermediate forms are found. 



Fischer^s Courser was discovered by the traveller whose 

 name it bears, in Massai-land in Eastern Equatorial Africa 

 (Journ. f. Orn. 1884, p. 178), and has recently been procured 

 a little to the north-east by Mr. Lort Phillips in Somali- 

 land (Shelley, Ibis, 1885, p. 416). Like HartlauVs Courser, 

 it is slightly smaller than the typical form, but varies from 

 it in the opposite direction. The buff shade is so dark that 

 it approaches pale chestnut, and the white of the upper tail- 

 coverts is suffused with buff. On the other hand, it resem- 

 bles HartlauVs Courser in having the dark shaft-lines on the 

 throat less distinct, becoming almost obsolete on the upper 

 throat. 



11. Cursorius bitorquatus. 



Jerdon^s Courser is the only species of this genus which 

 combines the characters of having a plain brown mantle and 

 patches of white near the tips of the first three primaries. 



It ajjpears to have a very limited range, having only been 

 found in that part of the Indian peninsula which lies be- 

 tween one hundred and three hundred miles due north of 

 Madras. 



12. Cursorius ^gyptius. 



The Black-backed Courser may always be recognized by 

 its plain black mantle and scapulars. 



It inhabits West Africa and the valley of the Nile. 



It has been placed by most writers in a genus by itself 



