232 



CURSORIUS. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



species in the family in being very round. To find the breadth it is seldom necessary to 

 deduct more than one fifth from the length, instead of about a third. 



The Coursers are desert birds, and feed upon the insects that are found upon sandy 

 plains. It is therefore not surprising that most of the species are confined to the Ethiopian 

 Region. The range of the genus Cursorius extends, however, northwards into Palsearctic 

 Africa, and eastwards through Syria, Arabia, and Persia to India and Ceylon. 



Synonymy of the Genus Cursorius. 



Type. 



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



Tachydromus, Ittiger, Prodromus, p. 250 (1811) C. gallicus. 



Pluviauus, Vieiltot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxvii. p. 129 (1818) C. segyptius. 



Cursor, Wagler, Syst. Av. p. 79 (1827) C. gallicus. 



Hyas, Gloger, Froriep's Notizen, xvi. p. 277 (1834) C. gallicus. 



Cheilodromas, Rilppell, Mus. Senck. ii. p. 208 (1837) C. segyptius. 



Ammoptila, Swainson, Nat. Hist. Class. Birds, ii. p. 364 (1837) ..... C. segyptius. 



Macrotarsius, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xyii. pt. i. p. 254 (1848) . . . . C. bitorquatus. 



Rhinoptilus, Strickland, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 220 C. chalcopterus. 



Hemerodromus, Heuglin, Ibis, 1863, p. 31 C. cinctus. 



Determina- 

 tion of the 

 type. 



There is no evidence to prove that Latham understood the modern idea of the 

 necessity of providing a type to each genus ; but the fact that he named the Cream-coloured 

 Courser Charadrius cursor, and afterwards established the genus Cursorius for its reception, 

 is a sufficient reason for regarding that species, which the majority of authors call by the 

 name of Cursorius gallicus, as the type. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



Neither white axillaries 

 nor banded breast. 



White axillaries 

 and banded breast. 



C. GALLICUS 



Pal^arctic and Oriental Regions. 

 Canary Isles to Scinde. 



C. COROMANDELICUS 



Oriental Region. 



India and Ceylon. 

 Madras District. 



C. BITORQUATUS. 



