GRALL.E. 

 (EDICNEMIDiE. 



Subfam. CURSORIN^E *. 

 Bill somewhat slender and curved or straight. Legs slender ; knees slightly enlarged. 

 Tarsi shielded with stout transverse scutes before and behind. Toes short and slightly webbed. 

 Stomach large and membranous. 



Genus CUESOBIUS. 

 Bill wide at the base, curved throughout, the tip bent ; nostrils oval and basal, placed in a 

 depression. Wings moderate, the 2nd quill equal to or slightly longer than the 1st; tertials 

 nearly as long as the primaries. Tail short and rounded. Tarsus and bare tibia covered with 

 transverse scutes before and behind ; knees thick ; toes very short, the middle toe much 

 longer than the lateral ones, united to the outer at the base by a web, and also to the inner by a 

 very small one ; claws short and straight, the middle one pectinated. 



CUESOKIUS COROMANDELICUS, 



(THE INDIAN COURIER.) 



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



Cursorius asiaticus, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 751 (1790). 



Cursorius coromandelicus (Gm.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 259 (1849); Kelaart, 



Prodromus, Cat. p. 132 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 108; 



Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 626 (1864) ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 388 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 470 ; Adam, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 393 ; Hume, t.c. p. 421 ; Ball, ibid. 1874, 



p. 429 ; Parker, ibid. 1875, p. 267 ; Plume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 564 (1875) ; Butler 



& Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 10 ; Fairbank, t. c. p. 262 ; Davidson & Wenden, ibid. 



1878, vii. p. 87 ; Ball, t. c. p. 226 ; Hume, ibid. 1879 (List B. of Ind.), p. 111. 

 Coure-vite de Coromandel, Buffon, PI. Enl. 892 ; Coromandel Plover, Latham ; The Indian 



Courser, The Indian Courier-Plover. Nukri, Hind. ; Yerra chitavoa, Telugu. 



Adult male and female (Ceylon). Length 8'8 to 9 - 5 inches ; wing 5-8 to 6*1 ; tail 2 - 3 to 2-5 ; tarsus 1-95 to 2-15 ; 



bare tibia 085 to 1*0 ; middle toe and claw O 95 to 1*05; outer toe and claw 0-55 ; bill to gape 1-1 to 1-2. 



Females as observed by me average larger than males. 

 Iris dark brown ; bill blackish ; gape and base of lower mandible yellowish ; legs and feet yellowish white or whitish, 



joints dark, claws black. 



* The Courier-Plovers resemble the Stone-Plovers in their anatomy, both showing affinity to the Bustards in this 

 respect ; in many of their habits the two groups are alike. The remarkable Double-banded Plover, ffliinoptilus bitorquatus, 

 Jerd., is, in the matter of the bill, to a slight extent a link between Cursorius and (Edicnemus. 



