CREAM-COLOURED COURSER. 65 



migratory birds from the east^ tliougli it must not be forgotten that the 

 chances of a bird being sliot during the first two months of Partridge- 

 shooting in this country are greater than at any other time of the year. 

 This species is seklom or never kept in confinement ; and it is not likely 

 that escaped birds w^ould be so exclusively obtained in autumn. The 

 more probable explanation is that, in the Caucasus, this species is exclu- 

 sively a migratory bird, and that the birds which visit our islands in 

 autumn, most of which appear to be birds of the year, have accidentally 

 wandered out of the usual track ; or it does not seem impossible that they 

 may be individuals driven from the Canary Islands by south-westerly 

 gales. 



The Cream-coloured Courser is a bird of the desert. It lives on the 

 arid sand-plains or on the bare elevated plateaux, where scarce a tuft of 

 scanty herbage or a bush is to be found. It loves to frequent the bases of 

 sand-hills, and is sometimes seen in the miserable desert pastures or 

 amongst the sand-dunes on the outskirts of the oases. In these dismal 

 uninteresting regions the Courser trips about in pairs, or less frequently 

 in little parties. If it is not exactly a shy bird it appears to be a very 

 wary one, and runs quickly off to conceal itself as the traveller approaches. 

 It prefers to run like lightning over the sand rather than to take wing, every 

 now and then pausing for a moment to look warily around, to see if it is 

 still pursued. When alarmed it often runs off and conceals itself either 

 by squatting close to the sand, or hiding under a stone or tuft of herbage, 

 where its sand-coloured plumage eftectually conceals it from view. It 

 generally runs a little distance before taking wing, and seldom seems to 

 fly very high. If a flock be observed they are usually seen scattered up 

 and down the sandy tract, not feeding close together. When danger 

 threatens each looks out for itself, taking refuge in the nearest available 

 cover, or crouching flat down on the sand. Favier described the note of a 

 Cream-coloured Courser which he kept in captivity as rererer ; he also 

 says that their alarm-note is like that of a Plover. 



The food of the Cream-coloured Courser is principally composed of 

 insects and grubs. It seems to be especially fond of grasshoppers, and 

 doubtless eats small locusts. Birds which Favier kept in confinement 

 were fed on grasshoppers and the larvse of Coleoptera. 



In North-west Africa the breeding-season of the Cream-coloured Courser 

 is in ]\lay and June ; in Egypt, according to Heuglin, it is much earlier, 

 being in March and April; wdiiJst in the Punjaub Hurae says that the 

 laying-season is chiefly in July, but that eggs have been obtained from 

 March to August, according to the state of the rains. But meagre details 

 have been published respecting the breeding-habits of this bird, and few 

 are made from personal observation. It is said to deposit its eggs on the 

 bare ground, generally choosing a little hollow, or scratching one out for 



VOL. III. F 



