CURSOMUS BICINCTUS, Temminck. 

 Double-collared Courser. 



PLATE XLVIII. 



C. brunneus plumis dorsi pallide castaneo margiiiatis ; subtus ferrugineo-albidus, 

 pectore fasciis duobus nigris cincto. 



Double-collared Courser, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. ix. p. 354. 

 Cursorius bicinctus, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. vol. ii. p. 515. 



J- he Coursers form a beautiful group confined to Africa and the warm parts 

 of Asia, with the exception of one species which has been three or four times 

 killed in Great Britain and in France *. They all inhabit arid plains and de- 

 serts, at a distance from cover and inhabited places. They are wild, solitary, 

 and shy; run with exceeding swiftness, and are possessed with very extensive 

 powers of flight. The species at present known are four in number, and 

 the distribution of these, even in their native countries, seems to be limit- 

 ed. From the inaccessible nature of the places they frequent, and their 

 wild disposition, we remain yet unacquainted with their manner of incu- 

 bation, and with the changes of plumage undergone by the young in at- 

 taining that of the adult. In their general habits, they bear a strong re- 

 semblance to the Bustards, particularly to some of the smaller species. 



We are indebted for our specimen of this little known species, with se- 

 veral other interesting birds, to Dr A. Smith, Superintendant of the South 

 African Museum at the Cape of Good Hope, a very indefatigable zoologist, 

 and to whose notes we shall have frequent occasion to refer. It was re- 

 ceived by Dr Smith from the Buchuanna country, and is said by him to be 

 very seldom met with, except considerably farther north of the colony. 



It is mentioned by Dr Latham and M. Temminck as seen by Le Vail- 

 lant ; and the latter ornithologist has given a short description of it in the 

 second edition of his Manual, with which our own specimen very nearly agrees. 



* A specimen of our British species has been recently killed in Charnwood Forest, Leicester- 

 shire, and is now in the possession of the Rev. Mr Gisborne of Yoxall Lodge, Staffordshire. 



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