CREAM-COLOURED COURSER. 



50] 



used by Latham is not applicable : the manners of 

 the bird are unknown. 



One of the three before-mentioned specimens 

 was shot near St. Alban's, in Kent, the seat of 

 William Hamond, Esq., who presented it to Dr. 

 Latham, with the following account. " It was 

 first met with running upon some light land, and 

 so little fearful was it, that after having sent for a 

 gun, one was brought to him which did not readily 

 go off, having been charged some time, and in 

 consequence missedhis aim. The report frightened 

 the bird away ; but after making a turn or two, it 

 again settled within a hundred yards of him, when 

 he was prepared with a second shot, which dis- 

 patched it. It was observed to run with in- 

 credible swiftness, and at intervals to pick up 

 something from the ground ; and was so bold as 

 to render it difficult to make it rise from the 

 ground, in order to take a more secure aim on the 

 wing. The note was not like any kind of Plovers, 

 nor indeed to be compared with that of any known 

 bird." This specimen found its way into the Le- 

 verian Museum, at the time of the sale of which it 

 was purchased from Fichtel, who had bought it, by 

 that zealous British naturalist, Donovan, for the 

 sum of eighty-three guineas. It is now deposited 

 in the British Museum. 



