240 CURSOKIUS. 



Variations. Examples from West Africa do not appear to differ from those collected on the Zambesi. 



Synonymy. Cursorius temminckii, Swainson, Zool. Tllustr. ii. pi. 106 (1822). 



Tachydromus senegalensis, Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl. p. 72 (1823). 



Cursor temminckii (Swains.), Wagler, Syst. Av. p. 80 (1827). 



Cursorius senegalensis (Licht.), Ruppell, Syst. Uebers. V'og. N.O.-Afr. p. 117 (1845). 



Literature. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



Nearest 

 allies. 



Plates. — Swainson, Zool. Illustr. ii. pi. 106 ; Swainson, Birds W. Africa, ii. pi. 24. 

 Habits. — Sharpe, Layard's Birds S. Africa, p. 654. 

 Eggs. — Unknown. 



Lichtenstein's Courser is the only species of the genus which, when adult, has a black 

 belly, but neither white upper tail-coverts nor a slate-grey hind head. However, as the first 

 and last of these characters are only found in adult birds, a second diagnosis is necessary, 

 which will also apply to the young in first plumage. This is easily found in the unique 

 pattern of the secondaries. The white is shaped like a thin wedge, the base of which runs 

 out at the tip, whilst the thin end splits the brown of the inner web almost into halves. 



Lichtenstein's Courser is principally confined to the most tropical parts of Africa, and 

 is much rarer than Burchell's Courser further south. Hartlaub records it from West 

 Africa (Journ. Orn. 1854, p. 213), and I have examples from Senegambia (Bathurst, Quin) 

 and from the Gold Coast (Accra, J. Smith). Heuglin records it from the Gaboon and 

 Kordofan (Orn. N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 969). Monteiro found it common in Angola (Ibis, 

 1862, p. 335) ; Anchieta obtained many examples in Benguela (Bocage, Orn. dAngola, 

 p. 419); and I have an example from Ovampo-Land collected by Andersson at Ondonga. 

 Sharpe says that it is generally distributed throughout the Cape Colony ; but this statement 

 is not confirmed by Layard, and I can find no evidence of its truth beyond the occurrence 

 of a single example in the Eastern Province (Layard, Ibis, 1S69, p. 375). Holub records 

 it from the Orange Free State, West Griqua-Land, Bechuana-Land, and the Southern 

 Transvaal (Beitr. Orn. Siidafr. p. 246). Graham Hutchinson informed me that it was 

 common, but local, on the open sandy veldt in Natal ; and I have an example collected on 

 Burg Mountain near Durban. I have also examples collected by Bradshaw near the 

 Zambesi, and by Kirk at Melinda, in Zanzibar. 



It appears to be closely related both to C. rufus and C. coromandelicus ; but, if we may 

 judge from the arrangement of the colour on the secondaries, it appears to be more nearly 

 allied to the latter than to the former. 



