GLAKEOLID.i; CURSORIUS 323 



and posteriorly ; no hind toe ; claw of the middle digit strongly 

 pectinated ; a small basal web between the middle and outer toes. 



The members of this genus, five in number, are distributed over 

 the whole of Africa up to the Mediterranean, including the Canary 

 and Cape Verde Islands, and eastwards through Arabia and Persia 

 to India and Ceylon. Two species are met with in South Africa. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Front half of the crown chestnut-brown, hind 



half slaty-blue, white tip of the secondaries 



broad, extending right across the feather C. rufus, p. 323. 



B. Crown rich chestnut throughout ; white tips 

 of the secondaries wedge-shaped and very much 



restricted , C. temmincki, p. 325. 



705. Cursorius rufus. Burchett's Courser. 



Cursorius rufus, Gould, P. Z. 8. 1836, p. 81 ; id. Icon. Av. pi. 10 (1837) ; 

 Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 299, 1871, p. 269, 1877, p. 347, 1880, p. Ill, 1885, 

 p. 347 ; Sliarpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 653, 855 (1884) ; Seebohm, 

 Ibis, 1886, p. 117, 1887, p. 344 ; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 334; See- 

 bohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 238 (1888) ; Sharpe, Cat. B.M. xxiv, 

 p. 38 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 194 (1896) ; Woodward Bros., Natal 

 Bds. p. 180 (1899) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 155 (1900) ; Haagner, 

 Ibis, 1902, pp. 574, 580 ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 361 (1902) ; White - 

 head, Ibis, 1903, p. 235; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 11 [Deelfontein] . 



Tachydromus burchellii, Swains., An. in Menag. p. 340 (1838). 



Cursorius burchelli, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 217 ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 289 (1867); Holub $> Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 246 (1882); Butler, 

 Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 340 ; Bryden, Nature and Sport, 

 p. 86 (1897). 



Description. Adult Male. General colour above rufous-brown, 

 the front part of the head and the hind-neck of a somewhat richer 

 shade ; occiput and nape slaty-blue surrounded by a band of black 

 and then a band of white which extends forward over the eye, and 

 finally a second band of black ; primary coverts and bastard wing 

 black, secondaries ashy-brown with broad white tips increasing 

 towards the innermost ; upper tail-coverts and tail ashy-brown, the 

 central feathers with a darker terminal spot, the outer ones with 

 a subterminal dusky spot and white tip; below, throat, abdomen, 

 thighs and under tail-coverts white ; the breast like the back but 

 somewhat paler with a strong black patch on the lower breast ; 

 axillaries ashy with paler tips ; under wing-coverts black. 



