194 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
of the wing quills. There is also a small black speck in front 
of and behind each eye. 
Young birds are gray on the upper parts and streaked with 
black on the head and nape. 
Bill black ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet grayish-blue ; 
claws black. 
Length 16; wing 8°25; tail 2°8; tarsus 3:75; bill from 
gape 2°75. 
Distribution.—Found in small numbers, chiefly on the 
north coast from Mannar to Trincomalee. Its range extends 
from the shores of East Africa to those of the Bay of Bengal. 
Habits—A curious bird, confined to the sea coast or shores 
of salt lakes ; as a rule gregarious. Crabs are its main food. 
The flight and gait are those of a Plover. Breeds about the 
end of May. The bird digs in a sandy beach a long curved 
burrow, in which it lays a solitary white egg measuring about 
2°50 by 1°75. 
Family GLAREOLIDA. 
Coursers and Swallow Plovers. 
A family confined to the Old World. In it—with the excep- 
tion of a genus which does not occur within Indian limits—the 
nostrils are not pierced through the bill, as in all the other 
groups of the order, but have a partition between them. 
The bill is slight and not grooved. None of the forms are 
large. The eggs resemble those of Plovers, but are of a more 
dumpy oval and less pointed at the narrow end. There are 
two well-marked sub-families. 
(a) The Coursers (Cursoriine). 
(6) The Swallow Plovers (Glareoline). 
Sub-family Cursoriine. 
Genus Cursorius. 
The Coursers. 
Represented in Ceylon by a single species. The Coursers 
are great runners, and frequent dry plains. The tarsus is 
longish, and there is no hind toe. In outward appearance 
they are not unlike small Lapwings, but the bill is ie 
and not swollen at the tip. 
