O24 CURSORIDA. 
Genus, Cursorius, Latham. 
Bill moderately long, slender, slightly arched throughout and 
bent at the tip; nostrils oval, not placed in a groove; wings 
moderate; the first and second quills longest; tail short, even, of 
twelve feathers ; tarsi long and slender, scutellated ; lateral toes 
short, divided to the base ; nails small. 
Cursorius coromandelicus, Gm. 
840.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 626 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 10 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 425; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 221; 
Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 132. 
THE INDIAN CouRIER PLOVER. 
Length, 9 to 10; expanse, 19 to 20; wing, 6; tail, 24; tarsus, 
2:2; bill at front, 0°8. 
Bill black ; legs creamy or opaque-white ; irides deep brown. 
Top of head bright ferruginous ; lores, continued through the 
eyes to the nape, black, and a white eyebrow ; upper plumage 
pale ashy or isabella-brown; quills and primary-coverts black ; 
chin white ; neck and breast pale isabella-rufous, deepening on 
the abdomen to chesnut, and terminating in a black bar on the 
middle of the belly ; lower abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts 
white. 
The Indian Courier Plover occurs more or less commonly 
throughout the region, excepting, of course, the more hilly tracts. 
It is in most places a permanent resident, breeding during 
April. The eggs (there is no nest), two or three in number, are 
spherical in shape, of a buff or cream-color, clouded, blotched or 
smeared with patches of very pale inky-grey, and above this are 
lines, scratches, and streaks of blackish-brown. 
These markings are generally small and closely set, with an 
occasional inky-black smudge or smear intermingled. They 
measure about 1:19 inches in length by about 0°97 in breadth. 
Cursorius gallicus, Gm. 
840bis.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, Appendix, p. 874; 
Butler, Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 11; Murray’s 
Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 221. 
THE CREAM-COLORED COURSER. : 
Length, 10; wing, 6°5; tail, 2:5; tarsus, 2:2; bill at front, 0°85. 
Bill black ; legs yellowish-white. 
Forehead and upper plumage generally pale isabelline or sandy- 
yellow ; top of the head pale grey; a broad superciliary white 
band from the eye to the occiput, with a narrower black line 
beneath it ; both widen out at the occiput, which is sub-crested, 
mixed black and white ; quills black ; tail concolorous with the upper 
plumage, with a broad dark-brown terminal band, broadly tipped 
with white on all, except the central feathers ; beneath, as above 
