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Family CHARADBIID^J. 



Genus CUESOEIUS. 



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

 Cursorius, Latham, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 751 (1790). 

 Tachydromus apud Illiger, Prodromus, p. 250 (1811). 

 Cursor apud Wagler, Syst. Av. (1827). 



This genus is represented in the Palsearctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian Eegions, one species occur- 

 ring in the Western Palaaarctic Region, though only as a straggler north of the Mediterranean. 



Coursers frequent large sandy plains and such places generally as are far from water and 

 almost bare of vegetation. They are usually to be met with in small family parties ; and when 

 disturbed they either squat close to the ground or else seek safety by running with extreme 

 rapidity, preferring to escape thus rather than to take wing, though they fly tolerably well. 

 They feed on insects of various kinds, chiefly coleoptera and various kinds of grasshoppers ; and 

 their alarm-note is said to closely resemble the call of the Plovers. They deposit their eggs on 

 the ground, making no nest ; these are usually two or three in number, and are short and stout 

 in shape, dull stone-buff in colour, marbled and spotted with pale purplish grey and dull reddish 

 brown. 



Cursorius gallicus, the type of the genus, has the bill about as long as or a trifle shorter than 

 the head, slender, slightly curved, tapering, straight to the end of the nasal sinus, then decurved 

 to the tip, which is narrow, rounded, and sharp-edged ; nostrils lateral, oval, placed in the fore 

 part of the nasal sinus ; wings long, rather pointed, the first and third quills about equal, the 

 second slightly longer, being the longest ; tail moderate, slightly rounded ; legs long and slender ; 

 tibia bare for about a third of its length, scutellate; tarsus slender, compressed, scutellate; hind 

 toe wanting, the anterior toes short, stout, the middle and outer toes connected by a membrane, 

 the centre toe much longer than the two lateral ones, the inner one much shorter than the outer 

 one ; claws small, slender, slightly curved, acute, that on the middle toe with a dilated inner edge. 



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