CUESOEIUS. 249 



Charadrius segyptius, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 150 (1758) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1766). 



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



Charadrius africanuSj Latham, Index Orn. Suppl. p. Ixvii (1801) . 



Pluvianus melanocephalus (Gmel.),~i 



Pluvianus chlorocephalus, j ^'''"'^' ^- ^^'*- '^'^^'*- ^«'- ^^"^^ P- 1^0 (1818). 



Cursor charadroides, Wagler, Syst. Av. p. 81 (1827). 



Ammoptila charadroides {Wagl.), Swainson, Nat. Hist. Class. Birds, ii. p. 364 (1837). 



Cheilodromas melanocephalus (Gmel.), Ruppell, Mus. Senckenb. ii. p. 208 (1845). 



Pluvianus segyptius {Linn.), Strickland, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ix. p. 348 (1852). 



Hyas aegyptia (Linn.), Cab. Journ. Orn. 1854, p. 70. 



Cursorius segyptius {Linn.), Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Cursores, p. 14 (1865). 



Synonymy. 



Plates.— Daub. PI. Enl. no. 918 ; Gould, Birds of Asia, vii. pi. 62 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, Jiterature. 



vii. pi. 527. 

 Habits. — Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. p. 521. 

 Eggs\ — Bree, Birds of Europe, iv. pi. i. fig. 1. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Black-backed Courser, or Black-headed Plover, as it has been illogically called, 

 may always be recognized by its plain black mantle and scapulars. 



It has been placed by most writers in a genus by itself {Pluvianus), probably in 

 consequence of its frequenting the muddy banks of rivers, like the Ringed Plovers ; but 

 Schlegel was perfectly justified in allowing it to remain in the genus in which Wagler 

 placed it. It agrees with C. senegalensis in having a shorter tarsus than usual, and with 

 C. hitorquatus in having white bands across some of the primaries. It also agrees with the 

 latter species in not having the claw of the middle toe pectinated ; but examples of 

 C. senegalensis also occasionally show no trace of this pecuharity. 



The Black-backed Courser is a common resident in the valley of the Nile from Cairo 

 to Kartoum. It has been recorded as an accidental visitor from Spain, Algeria, and 

 Palestine, and somewhat doubtfully from Sweden. It has occurred several times on the 

 coast of Senegambia, and I have a skin in my collection obtained by Governor Ussher on 

 the Gold Coast. It is also a resident in the Gaboon, in Angola, in Abyssinia, and 

 presumably in the intervening country of Central Africa. 



The Black-backed Courser is unquestionably the most aberrant species of the genus, 

 but in the conformation of its bill, which is the most important character in the definition 

 of the genus, it is quite typical. 



So much interest attaches to the habits of this curious bird that I have great pleasure Habits. 



' The egg figured by Halting (Proc. Zool. Soe. 1874, pi. Ix. fig. 2) cannot be that of this species. It is 

 too^small, too pointed, and too dark-coloured : the spots are too large, the egg is not heavy enough, and there 

 were too many of them in the clutch. 



2k 



