429 



Dr. Jerdon thought that probably the Asiatic form of the present species was different from 

 our European bird, and he gave it the provisional name of Cursorius jamesoni. I do not possess 

 any Asiatic examples, and am therefore indebted to Lord Walden and Mr. J. E. Harting for the 

 loan of specimens for comparison ; and after having most carefully examined these, I am enabled 

 to say that there is no difference either in size or coloration. 



The Cream-coloured Courser is said by those who have had an opportunity of observing it 

 in a wild state to be a true desert-bird, and to be to a certain extent local in its distribution, 

 even in the desert. Von Heuglin says that it may be met with at the base of sand-hills where 

 there is a little desert-grass, on poor pastures, in low places where there are remains of old canals, 

 in dunes overgrown with Statice and Sahola, or even with acacias and scattered dates, or in bare 

 places in the bush-covered steppes, or in deserted fields where maize or cotton has been planted ; 

 but he never saw it far from water or in hot sand-plains perfectly bare of vegetation. Dr. Carl 

 Bolle, however, writes (I. c.) that in Canaria he .found it most numerous in the bare sun-scorched 

 plains. 



Von Heuglin always met with it in pairs or in small family parties, and says that they 

 always appear to move about very swiftly, so much so that the eye can scarcely follow them, 

 and every now and again stop suddenly and jerk their head, or move their body quickly, and 

 run off again swiftly in another direction. Before taking wing they run a short distance, and 

 seldom fly far or high, preferring to trust to their swiftness of foot for safety. Some very 

 interesting notes of Mr. Favier's on the habits of the Courser, especially in confinement, are 

 published (I. c.) by Colonel Irby, which I transcribe as follows : — "Their food is entirely insects 

 or larvae, particularly Pentatoma torquata, and different sorts of grasshoppers. They are met 

 with in small lots, usually frequenting dry arid plains, where they spread out in all directions, 

 running about after insects, and are very wary and difficult to get a shot at. Their cry of alarm 

 is much like that of the Plover. They rest and sleep in a sitting position, with their legs 

 doubled up under them. Should they not fly away when approached, they run off with 

 astonishing swiftness, manoeuvring to get out of sight behind stones or clods of earth ; then, 

 kneeling down and stretching the body and head flat on the ground, they endeavour to make 

 themselves invisible, though all the time their eyes are fixed on the object which disturbs 

 them, and they keep on the alert ready to rush off again if one continues to approach them. 



" The age of the young birds can be well made out by the zigzag markings with which the 

 plumage is speckled, which becomes clearer each moult till the end of the second year, when 

 they assume the regular adult livery. There is no difference at any age in the plumage of 

 the sexes. 



"In 1849 they did not leave till the 11th September, when a chasseur brought me one 

 slightly wounded in the wing. I tried to keep this bird alive ; but it died directly the weather 

 became cold. It proved on dissection to be a female ; and from the large size of the eggs in 

 the ovary it appeared as if it would soon have nested, probably in October or November, when 

 doubtless they retire to a much warmer climate. 



"Towards the end of August 1851, two others were brought to me, both slightly wounded — 

 one an adult, the other an immature bird. To prevent the birds this time from dying of cold I 

 placed them by day in a room where there was always a fire kept up. At night I put them in 



