CUESOEIUS. 



241 



CURSORIUS COROMANDELICUS. 



INDIAN COURSER. 



CuRsoRius axillaribus fumosis : supracaudalibus albis. 



Diagnosis. 



There seems to be no difference between examples from Lahore or Darjeeling and others Variations. 

 from Ceylon. 



Charadrius coromandelicus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 692 (1788) . 



Cursorius asiaticus, Latham, Index Orn. ii. p. 751 (1790). 



Tachydromus cororaandelicus {Gmel.), Illiger, Prodromus, p. 250 (1811). 



Cursor frenatus, Wagler, Syst. Av. Gen. p. 80 (1827) . 



Tacbydromus asiaticus {Lath.), Vieillot ^ Oudart, Gal. des Ois. ii. p. 90 (1834). 



Tachydromus orientalis, Swainson, An. Menag. p. 339 (1838). 



Cursorius tarayeusis, Hodgson, Gray's Zool. Miscell. p. 85 (1844). 



Cursorius coromandelicus [Gmel.), Gray, Cat. Mamm. 5fc. Nepal coll. Hodgson, p. 131 (1846). 



Synonymy. 



Plates. — Daub. PI. Enl. no. 892 ; Gould, Birds of Asia, vii. pi. 65; Vieillot, Gal. des Ois. ii. 



pi. 232. 

 Habits. — Legge, Birds of Ceylon, p. 977. 

 Eggs. — Hume, Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, iii. p. 564. 



Literature. 



The Indian Courser, at the first glance, looks little more than a large form of 

 Lichtenstein's Courser ; but, when carefully examined, it presents many important points of 

 difference besides that of size. It is the only Courser that combines the two characters of 

 white upper tail-coverts and grey axillaries. As both these characters are found in the 

 young in first plumage, a second diagnosis is not necessary. 



It appears to be generally distributed throughout India and Ceylon ; but it is more 

 local in the south, and does not occur in the extreme north-west. It occurs as far west as 

 Eastern Scinde (Hume, Stray Feathers, iv. p. 10), but its range does not extend to the 

 valley of the Indus. No species of this genus is known from Burma. 



It is probably most nearly allied to C. senegalensis and C. rufus. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geograplii- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



2i 



