IO CASSELLS BOOK OF BIRDS. 



covered with a cere at its base. The leg is slender, the foot furnished with three toes, which are 

 armed with delicately small claws, and almost entirely unconnected. The tolerably thick plumage 

 is usually of a nearly uniform reddish brown colour, or sandy yellow, and varies according to the 

 sex and age. These birds inhabit the arid plains and sandy deserts of Africa and Southern Asia, one 

 species alone frequenting such spots as are in the vicinity of water, into which, however, it does 

 not venture to wade. Their flight is rapid and powerful, and upon the ground they run with almost 

 incredible ease and speed. Insects and larva? constitute their diet ; the seeds occasionally found 

 in their stomachs being only accidentally swallowed in. their hasty search for food. Except during the 

 breeding season they live in small parties, and frequently associate with birds of similar habits. 

 It is undetermined whether the Tachydromi should be regarded as stationary birds or not ; some 

 species certainly wander over the country, and occasionally appear at great distances from their 

 native haunts. 



THE CREAM-COLOURED- COURSER. 



The Cream-coloured Courser (Ci/rsorius isabellinus) possesses a slender body and large 

 wings, in which the second quill is longer than the rest ; a comparatively short, broadly-rounded 

 tail, composed of from twelve to fourteen feathers ; a long, decidedly-curved bill, slender tarsi, 

 and feet furnished with, three toes. The thick, soft plumage is of a cream-colour, the upper 

 parts of the body having a reddish and the under side a yellowish tinge ; the nape is blueish grey, 

 divided from the rest of the body by a white and a black line commencing at the eyes, and merging 

 into a triangular patch on the nape ; the secondaries are sand-yellow, with a black spot near the white 

 tip, and a pale inner web. All the tail-feathers are reddish cream-colour, except two in the centre ; 

 these are tipped with white, and striped with black. The eye is brown, the beak blackish, and the 

 foot straw-colour. This species is from eight inches and a half to nine inches long, and nineteen 

 broad ; the wing measures six inches, and the tail two inches and a half. The female closely 

 resembles her mate ; the young are at once recognised by the mottled and spotted appearance of 

 their somewhat lighter plumage ; their primary quills have yellow tips, and the nape is adorned by 

 a whitish stripe bordered by a few black feathers. 



The Cream-coloured Courser is a native of Africa, and is met with in Egypt, Nubia, and 

 Abyssinia, being most numerous in the last-mentioned country ; it appears in summer along the coast- 

 line from Tangiers to Tripoli, and is seldom found north of the Mediterranean. This bird is one 

 of the rarest visitors to our shores, but three or four specimens have occurred in Great Britain 

 since 1785. Some years ago one was shot in Kent, whilst running over some light land. So little 

 timidity did it exhibit that the gentleman who- killed it had time to send for a gun, which did not 

 readily go off, and he in consequence missed his aim. The report frightened the bird away, but after 

 making a turn or two- it again settled within a hundred, yards, and was dispatched. It was 

 observed to run with incredible swiftness, and at intervals to pick up something from the ground, 

 and was so bold as to render it difficult to make it rise in order to shoot it while on the wing. The 

 note was not like that of a Plover, nor, indeed, to be compared with that of any known bird. 



From February to July these Coursers live in pairs, and are usually met with running together 

 over the arid sands of their desert haunts. Travellers tell us that they frequently dart along with 

 such extraordinary rapidity that, like the spokes in a swiftly-turned wheel,, their limbs become 

 invisible, so that at a distance they present the appearance of legless bodies darting through the air ; 

 if pursued by man, it is not uncommon for them thus to avoid his approach for hours together. 

 If very sorely pressed, they rise upon the wing to a moderate height, and hover for a time before 

 recommencing their wild career. They will allow a rider to come nearer than a man on foot ; but 

 even when mounted, it is extremely difficult to get a shot at them, as their many enemies soon render 



