236 



CURSOEIUS. 



Charadrius corrira, Bonnaterre, Tabl. Encycl. p. 23 (1790). 



Cursorius isabellinus, Meyer, Taschenb. ii. p. 328 (1810). 



Tachydromus gallicus (Gmel.), Illiger, Prodromus, p. 250 (1811). 



Tachydromus europsens (Lath), Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. viii. p. 293 (1817). 



Cursor isabellinus [Meyer), Wagler, Syst. Av. p. 80 (1827). 



Cursorius gallicus {Gmel.), Bonap. Faun. Ital., Ucc, Introd. (1832). 



Cursor europseus [Lath.), Naumann, V'og. Deutschl. vii. p. 77 (1834). 



Tachydromus isabellinus [Meyer), Nitzsch, Syst. Pterylogr. p. 201 (1840). 



Cursorius jamesoni, Jerdon, B. India, ii. p. 875 (1863). 



Literature. Plates. — Gerini, dm. Meth. Dig;, iv. pi. 474; Daub. PI. Enl. no. 795; Gould, Birds of Gt. 



Brit. iv. pl. 44; Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. pl. 514. 

 Habits.— Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 63 ; Heuglin, Orn. N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 965. 

 Eggs. — Hewitson, Ibis, 1859, pl. ii. fig. 3 ; Seebohm, British Birds, pl. xx. fig. 9. 



Specific 

 characters. 



(ieographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



Nearest 

 allies. 



The Cream-coloured Courser, when adult, has the hind head a bright slate-grey or 

 lavender colour. This character is only found in two other Coursers, C. somalensis and 

 C. nifus. The former may always be distinguished by its buff axillaries and innermost 

 under wing-coverts, and the latter, when adult, by the large black patch on its belly. To 

 distinguish the species at all ages this diagnosis must be slightly altered, but the new 

 character, though less conspicuous, is quite as easy of determination. 



The Cream-coloured Courser has the axillaries and tender tving-coverts nearly black, 

 and has the outer toeb of the secondaries bnjf. No other Courser ful61s both these conditions. 

 The nearly black axillaries and under wing-coverts are found even in young in first 

 plumage, showing the importance of the character ; but the slate-grey hind head and the 

 black belly are characters which only appear after the first moult. The buff outer webs of 

 the secondaries are, hoAvever, found at all ages. 



It breeds in the Canary Islands (Bolle, Journ. Orn. 1857, p. 335), and in the whole 

 of North Africa ; but it has not been recorded from Senegambia or any other part of West 

 Africa, though in East Africa it occurs as far south as Kordofan (Heuglin), and possibly 

 Abyssinia (Riippell, Vog. N.O.-Afr. p. 11 7). Eastwards its range extends to Arabia, Persia, 

 Beluchistan (Blanford, Eastern Persia, ii. p. 281), the Punjaub, Scind, and Pajputana 

 (Hume, Stray Eeathers, i. p. 228). It does not breed north of the Trans-Caucasian 

 steppes, but occasionally strays into Europe and even to the British Islands. 



Its nearest allies appear to be C. rufus and C. somalensis, but it is difficult to determine 

 which of them is its closest relation. 



