16 THE WORLD'S BIRDS. 



FOOD. Insects, etc. 



GAIT. A walk or run. 



FLIGHT. Rapid and easy in Coursers, much as in 

 plovers ; in Pratincoles slow, but graceful and 

 active, as in terns or small gulls. 



NOTE. Harsh and rattling. 



DISPOSITION AND GENERAL HABITS. The Coursers 

 are solitary ground-birds ; the Pratincoles are 

 social, and catch most of their food on the wing, 

 like swallows, which they resemble in general 

 form, except for the feet, whence the name 

 " Swallow-plovers " often applied to them. 



ECONOMIC QUALITIES. They are valuable insect- 

 destroyers, especially the Pratincoles, which are 

 much esteemed at the Cape for their services in 

 eating locusts, these insects being systematically 

 pursued by them, whence they are called " Locust- 

 birds." 



CAPTIVITY. A few of both groups have been kept, 

 and the Common Pratincole (Glareola pratincola) 

 has hatched young in the London Zoological 

 Gardens. 



DISTRIBUTION AND IMPORTANT SPECIES. These birds, 

 numbering about two dozen species, inhabit 

 the warm and temperate regions of the Old 

 World, the northern ones migrating south in 

 winter. The Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius 

 isabellinus) of the Mediterranean region ranges east 

 to India, and has occurred in England, as has the 

 Common Pratincole (Glareola pratincola). The 

 Black-backed Courser (Pluvianus agyptius) is the 

 celebrated trochilus of Herodotus, who was the 

 first to record its friendship with the crocodile, 

 the mouth of which reptile it is said to free of 

 leeches. 



