Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Cursorius. 



Subfamily Charadrhnm. 



CREAM-COLOURED COURSER. 



CURSORIUS GklAAQM^—iGmelin). 



Geographical Distribution.— ^«v/j-/i .• Rare straggler on 



autumn migration to England and Wales ; only one instance of 

 its occurrence in Scotland (in Lanarkshire) j none in Ireland. 

 Has been met with up to the present time in the following 

 counties : Northumberland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, 

 Leicestershire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Middlesex, Kent, Hants, Wilts, 

 Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, Cardigan, and "North 

 Wales." Foreign : Southern and western Palaearctic, and the 

 extreme north-eastern portion of the Ethiopian regions. Only of 

 accidental occurrence in Europe : Holland, Germany, France, 

 Spain, Italy, and South-east Russia. Breeds from the Canary 

 Islands in the west, right across the sand plains and plateaux of 

 Northern Africa, southwards on to the Sahara, and in Kordofan, 

 and possibly Abyssinia, in the east. Thence northwards it 

 probably breeds throughout Arabia, the Trans-Caucasian steppes, 

 Persia, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, the Punjaub, Scinde, and 

 Rajputana. 



Allied Forms. — Cursorius gallicus, var. bogolubovi, an in- 

 habitant of the Murgab district on the Persian frontiers of Russian 

 Turkestan. Of doubtful distinctness, but said to be larger than 

 the ordinary form, and to have the under wing coverts of a different 

 colour. C. somalensis, only known from a single specimen 

 obtained in Somali Land, the eastern horn of Africa. Differs 

 from the Cream-coloured Courser in being much smaller (length 

 of wing 5-3 inches instead of 6-o to 6-3 inches). Other impor- 

 tant characters are the axillaries and innermost under wing 



