514 RARE BRITISH BIRDS 



very deeply forked, pure white, the terminal half blackish brown, slightly glossed with 

 greenish; primaries black; shafts, of the first feather white, remainder brown; cheeks and 

 throat sandy buff, surrounded by a black line ; chest sandy buff, remainder of under surface 

 white ; under wing-covert and axillaries deep chesnut ; iris brown ; bill dark brown, red at the 

 base ; legs and feet black. The young bird resembles the adult in all essential characters, but 

 the feathers of the upper parts are glossy greenish grey fringed with buff and subterminally 

 marked with black, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Confined in the breeding season to the Mediterranean region, nesting in 

 North Africa from Marocco and Algeria to Tunisia, though in Egypt it has not yet been defi- 

 nitely proved to breed. In Europe it nests commonly in S. Spain and Portugal, sparingly in 

 S. France, Italy, and Sicily, also in Hungary, the lower Danube valley, Montenegro, Turkey, and 

 Greece, and in Russia in the south-west, the Riazan and Ural governments. In Asia it nests in 

 Asia Minor, Palestine, and from Transcaspia east to Turkestan. Other allied forms breed in 

 Tropical and Eastern Asia from Mesopotamia eastward, and also in Tropical and South Africa. 

 European birds probably winter in North Africa, and stragglers have occurred in German} 7 , 

 Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and some twenty-five times in the British Isles. [F. c. R. J.] 



BLACKWINGED PRATINCOLE [Gldreola nordmanni Nordmann; Gldreola melanoptera 

 Nordmann. Nordrnann's pratincole. German, schwarzflilgeliger Giarol; Italian, 

 pernice di mare orientate]. 



1. Description. Distinguished from the common pratincole by the axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts, which are black instead of deep chesnut ; otherwise it exactly resembles the last- 

 named species, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. A few pairs of this species appear to breed in Hungary and the Dobrogea, 

 but the main breeding-grounds lie in South Russia, rarely in the south-west, but commonly in 

 the governments of Kief, Chernigov, Kharkov, S. Riazan and Simbirsk, Ufa, Orenburg, Ural and 

 Turgai, and thence eastward in Siberia to about 81 E. long, and 54 N. lat. (Buturlin). This 

 species winters in Tropical and South Africa, where it has been met with south to Cape Colony. 

 As a straggler it has occurred in Sicily and Italy, and eight times in England (Sussex, Kent, and 

 Yorkshire). [F. c. R. J.] 



CREAMCOLOURED COURSER [Cursorius gdllicus (Gmelin). French, courvite isabelline; 

 German, europaischer Rennvogel ; Italian, corrione biondo]. 



1. Description. Has the axillaries and under wing-coverts nearly black, and the outer 

 web of the secondaries buff. The sexes are alike in coloration ; and there is no seasonal change 

 of plumage, though specimens from the more western localities are rather more sandy in appear- 

 ance, and often have less black on the subterminal band of the tail. Length 9'5 in. [238 mm.]. 

 General colour of the plumage isabelline buff, with a patch of lavender on the occiput ; primaries 

 black ; secondaries on their inner webs blackish brown, externally sandy buff tipped with white ; 

 tail with a subterminal bar of black and a white tip ; under tail-coverts and lower abdomen 

 white ; iris umber-brown ; bill dusky black ; angle of mouth and base of lower mandible white ; 

 feet livid yellow. The immature bird resembles the adult, but the feathers of the back are ver- 

 miculated with dusky black. The legs are long and well adapted for running, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Breeds in Northern Africa, from the Canaries (especially Fuertaventura) 

 and the Cape Verde Islands, across the Sahara and South Marocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli 

 east to Egypt, Nubia, and Kordofan, but replaced by allied races in Somaliland, the Dahlak archi- 

 pelago in the Red Sea, and Transcaspia and other parts of Asia. Though to a great extent 

 sedentary, it has frequently occurred in Europe in Spain, Sicily and Malta, Italy, France, the 

 Channel Isles, Germany, Heligoland, Hungary, Holland, Belgium, and about twenty-five times 

 in the British Isles. [F. c. R. J.] 



