COURSERS. 



473 



of Central and Northern Asia in summer, migrating in winter to South Africa, 

 may be distinguished by its black axillaries; while the Indian pratincole 

 (G. orient alls), ranging from India to North Australia, differs from the common 

 species by the slight forking of its tail. The white-naped pratincole (G. nuchal is) 

 and Biittikofer's pratincole (G. megapoda) may be cited as examples of an 

 African group of the genus, in which the nape has a light-coloured collar, and the 

 forking of the tail is very slight. Of the common species Mr. Seebohm writes 

 that, although it sometimes frequents cultivated lands, " its favourite haunts are on 

 the sandy tracts either near the sea or on the table-lands of the interior. The 

 pratincole spends a considerable portion of its time in the air, hawking for insects 

 like a gigantic swallow, skimming along with graceful motion, wheeling and dart- 

 ing about, chasing its prey in all directions. Upon the ground it is equally at 

 its ease, and runs to and fro with surprising swiftness in spite of its short legs. 

 Sometimes it even wades in the little pools with which its haunts often abound ; 

 frequently it flies at a considerable height, occasionally very low, just skimming 

 along above the ground." Beetles and grasshoppers appear to constitute its 

 favourite food. These birds do not make any nest, but lay their two or three 

 eggs on the bare ground, in most cases without even taking the trouble of scratch- 

 ing a hollow for their reception. The eggs, w r hich are generally laid in May, are 

 nearly oval, and extremely fragile; their ground-colour varying from yellow to 

 slaty grey, upon which are numerous streaks and blotches of dark blackish brow^n. 

 Like many other members of the order, pratincoles endeavour to draw intruders 

 away from their nests by simulating lameness or some other injury. An early 

 migrant, this species usually reaches its breeding-grounds in Spain, France, the 

 valley of the Danube, Asia Minor, or North Africa during April. 



Although agreeing with the lapwings in the scutes covering 

 their legs, the handsome birds known as coursers resemble the 

 pratincoles in the absence of grooves in the beak for the nostrils, and likewise 

 in the characters of the base of the skull ; but they differ in the absence of the 

 first toe, in the short and nearly even tail, and in their habit of taking their food 

 while on the ground. The typical genus includes nine well-defined species, which 

 are mainly restricted to the warmer parts of the Old World, exclusive of Australia ; 

 while the African black-backed courser represents a genus (Pluvianus) by itself, 

 distinguished from all other members of the order by the oval (holorhinal) nasal 

 apertures of the skull 



Cream-coloured The best known and typical representative of the group is the 

 Courser. cream-coloured courser (Cursorius gallicus), which inhabits the desert 

 areas stretching from Northern and North-Eastern Africa, through Arabia, Persia, 

 Baluchistan, and Afghanistan, to the Punjab, Sind, and Raj pu tana, and occasionally 

 wanders into Britain and other parts of Europe. A somewhat aberrant member 

 of the group, as regards coloration, this species is characterised by the general pale, 

 wood-brown hue tinged with reddish buff of the upper-parts ; the head being buff 

 on the top, and grey tipped with black behind ; a white, and below it a black 

 streak running above the eye ; the primaries and under wing-coverts nearly black ; 

 the secondaries dark brown with buff outer webs and white tips ; the tail-feathers 

 marked with a black spot near the end ; the under-parts buffish white ; and the legs 



