474 



PLOVER GROUP. 



cream -colour. The nearly black axillaries and under wing-coverts, coupled with the 

 buff outer webs of the secondaries, will, however, serve to distinguish it from all 

 its allies, the small courser (C. somalensis) being smaller, with greyish butt* 

 axillaries. In length the cream-coloured courser varies from 9 to 10 inches. 



Essentially a desert-bird, the cream-coloured courser (as may be seen in a case 

 of desert-haunting birds in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington) 

 harmonises so closely in coloration with its sombre surroundings as to be almost 

 invisible at a short distance. In such districts, Mr. Seebohm states that " it lives 



BLACK-BACKED COURSER (| nat. size). 



on the arid sand-plains or on the bare elevated plateaus, where scarce a tuft of 

 scanty herbage or a bush is to be found. It loves to frequent the bases of sand- 

 hills, and is sometimes seen in the miserable desert-pastures or amongst the 

 sand-downs on the outskirts of the oases. In these dismal, uninteresting regions 

 the courser trips about in pairs, or less frequently in little parties. If it is not 

 exactly a shy bird, it appears to be a very wary one, and runs quickly off to 

 conceal itself as the traveller approaches. It prefers to run like lightning over 

 the sand rather than to take wing, every now and then pausing for a moment to 

 look warily around to see if it is still pursued. When alarmed, it often runs off 

 and conceals itself either by squatting close to the sand, or hiding under a stone or 

 tuft of herbage, where its sand-coloured plumage effectually conceals it from view. 



