CURSORIUS Temminckii, 

 Black-bellied Courier, 



Generic Character. 



Rostrum mediocre, ad apicem compressum, mandibulls arcuatis, basi 

 depressd, apice acuta, integro. Nares basales, ovatce, aperturd 

 elongatd, laterali. Pedes loiigi, digitis tribus anticis omnino divisia, 

 interioribns brevissimis, ungue medio pectinato. Remigum penna 

 prima longissima. — Typus Genericus Cursorius Europceus, Lath. 



Bill as long- as the head; both mandibles arched, and towards the 

 end compressed; base depressed, the tip acute and entire; 

 nostrils basal, oval, the aperture oblong and lateral ; legs long, 

 with three toes in front entirely separated, the inner toes very 

 short, the middle with the claw serrated ; wings with the first 

 quill longest. — Generic Type Cream-coloured Floier Latham. 



Specific Character. 



C. colore columbino ; vertice pectoreque ferrugineis ; torquibus nuclia- 

 libus 2; torque inferiore, remigibus, abdomineque medio nigris ; 

 torque svperiore abdominisque lateribus albis. 



Cream-coloured brown ; top of the head and breast ferruginous ; 

 nuchal collar double ; the lower, with the quills and middle of 

 the body, black ; the upper, and the sides of the body, white. 



Dr. Latham first instituted this genus, of winch two 

 species were then known ; M. Le Vaillant discovered another 

 in Africa ; and I am happy in now adding a fourth from the 

 same country, in the possession of Mr. Leadbeater. No 

 ornithologist has paid greater attention both to the natural 

 affinities, and to the illustration of the genera allied with 

 these birds, than Professor Temminck ; and I therefore feel 

 pleasure in naming this bird in honour of that excellent 

 ornithologist, from whom whenever I have differed, it has 

 been from the sole wish of eliciting; truth. Total leng-th from 

 the bill to the tail eight inches ; bill one inch from the gape, 

 and half from the end of the nostrils ; the colours of the 

 bird are best seen in the figure ; the middle of the body, and 

 the quill feathers, deep black ; legs three inches from the 

 naked thigh to the tip of the middle toe, the claw of which 

 is serrated internally ; tail round ; the middle feathers not 

 spotted ; the two next with a black dot near the tip, which, 

 in the next pair, is further broken into two white dots ; the 

 outer pair white. These birds inhabit the arid tracts of 

 Africa, at a distance from the sea, and run amazingly swift. 

 One species has occasionally visited England. 



PI. 106. 



