210 GLAREOLID^E. 



Subfamily CURSOKIIN^E. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. Bill slightly curved ; breast without bands . . CTJRSOBIUS, p. 210. 



b. Bill straight ; breast transversely banded .... RHINOPTILUS, p. 212. 



Genus CURSORIUS, Latham, 1790. 



The Coursers or, as Jerdon calls 4hem, the Courier Ptovers, are 

 birds about the size of a Lapwing, and, like the Stone-Curlews, 

 show certain resemblances to Bustards both in structure and 

 distribution. The genus occurs sparingly in Southern Europe, it 

 is found throughout Africa, and all over South-western Asia with 

 the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, but not farther east. Of five 

 known species two occur in India. 



The bill in Cursorius is moderately long, slender, and slightly 

 arched. The wings are pointed, the 1st and 2nd quills subequal, 

 the 1st generally the longer. Tail short, nearly even. Tarsus 

 and bare tibia slender and shielded in front and behind; no 

 hind toe, anterior toes short, middle toe much longer than the 

 others, and its claw expanded on the inner side and slightly 

 pectinated. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Crown chestnut throughout C. coromandelicus, p. 210. 



b. Crown rufous in front, ashy grey behind . . C. gallicus, p. 211. 



1422. Cursorius coromandelicus. The Indian Courser. 



Charadrius coromandelicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 692 (1788). 

 Cursorius coromandelicus, Blyth, Cat. p. 259 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, 



p. 626 ; Hayes-Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 415 ; Adam. S. F. i, p. 393 ; 



James, ibid. p. 421 ; Parker, S. F. iii, p. 267 ; Sutler, S. F. iv, 



p. 10; v, pp. 232, 327 ; ix, p. 425; Sail, S. F. vii, p. 226; Hume, 



Cat. no. 840 ; Legye, Birds Ceyl p. 977 ; Vidal, 8. F. ix, p. 77 ; 



Reid, S. F. x, p. 64; Hume, 'ibid. p. 412'; Barnes, Birds Bom. 



p. 324 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i. p. 57 ; vi, p. 15, fig. 840 ; 



Seebohm, Charadr. p. 241 ; Oates in Hume's A', fy E. 2nd ed. iii, 



p. 323 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 39. 



The Indian Courier Plover, Jerdon ; Nultri, H. ; Yerra chitawa, 

 Durawayi, Tel. 



Coloration. Crown chestnut, darker behind, the long occipital 

 feathers concealing a black nuchal spot ; long white supercilia 

 meeting at the nape, bordered below by a black band that includes 

 lores, orbits, and ear-coverts, and also extends round the nape ; 

 behind the black there is a rufous collar; upper plumage sandy 

 brown ; primary-coverts, primaries, and secondaries black, secon- 

 daries grey towards the ends, with white tips, passing gradually 

 into the colour of the tertiaries and back ; upper tail-coverts 

 white ; middle tail-feathers like the back, the others greyish 



