COURSER. 



105 



enumerate rabbits among the animals introduced. The climate, indeed, 

 would probably be too cold for them. 



If the Coulterneb is, however, a robber of rabbit-burrows, it is too 

 formidably armed to allow of retaliation with impunity, and few birds 

 or beasts dare venture to attack it in its retreat. Sometimes, however, 

 as Jacobson tells us, the raven makes bold to offer battle ; but as soon 

 as he approaches, the Coulterneb catches him under the throat with her 

 beak, and sticks her claws into his breast till he screams out with pain 

 and tries to get away ; but the Coulterneb keeps fast hold of him and 

 tumbles him about till both frequently fall into the sea, where the raven 

 is drowned, and the Coulterneb returns in triumph to her nest. But 

 should the raven, at the first onset, get hold of the Coulterneb's neck, 

 he generally comes off victorious, kills the mother, and feasts on her 

 eggs or her young.* 1 On St. Margaret's Island, near St. David's, we 

 have seen the fishermen draw them out of their holes in a singular 

 manner ; by introducing the hand into the hole, which is seized by the 

 bird, who suffers himself to be drawn out rather than loose his hold. 

 In other places they are caught by ferrets, and the young are pickled. 



About the latter end of August they retire from our coast, and have 

 all completely migrated by the beginning of September, together with 

 the razor-bill and guillemots. 



At Dover, this, as well as the razor-bill, are indiscriminately called 

 Willock, Coulterneb, Bouger, Mullet, Gulderhead, Bottle-nose, Pope, 

 Marrot, and Sea-parrot. In the Orkney and Shetland Isles they are 

 called Tamie norie, Tommy, and in the South of Scotland, Bass Cock, 

 Ailsa Cock, Tom Noddy, and Cockandy. 



The egg is white, but is occasionally found obscurely speckled with 

 cinereous, about the size of a hen's ; their principal food is small fish, 

 particularly sprats, with which they feed their young. It is not known 

 to what parts they retire when they leave our coast, but they have been 

 found in abundance in various parts of the southern and northern 

 hemisphere. 



COURSER (Cursorius Isabellinus, Meyer.) 



*Cursorius Europaeus, Ind. Orn. 2. p. 751. — C. Gallicus, Gmel. Linn. 1. 692. — C, 

 Isabellinus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2d Edit. p. 513.— Linn. Trans. 13. p. 187.— 

 Pluvialis Morinellus flavescens, Corrione biondo, Gerin. 4. t. 474. — Le Coure 

 vite, Buff.S. 128. pi. Enl. 795.— Cream coloured Courser, Br. Zool. 1812. 2. 

 p. 108.— Swift-foot, Selby.— Cream-coloured Plover, Gen. Syn. 5. p. 217. 25. 

 Ib. Supp. 254. pi. 116.— Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Length ten inches. Bill three-quarters of an inch long, in shape 



not unlike that of the pratincole, but longer, and dusky black ; plumage 



1 Histoire Gener. des Voy. xix. p. 46; and Architecture of Birds, p. 37. 



