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SWIFTFOOT. 
The Courser or Swiftfoot, which leads us nearer 
the typical CharadriacUe , are Little Bustard Plovers, 
intermediate in many respects, and showing a beau- 
tiful gradation of form. With the exception of their 
frequenting arid plains or steppes, we know little 
of their economy, and one specimen only occurs in 
the British List as an occasional and rare visitant. 
CuESORrtjs, Latham. — Generic characters. — Bill 
depressed, towards the tip curved, pointed; 
nostrils basal, pierced in the short and partial 
membrane of the nasal grove ; wings of mean 
length, but ample from the breadth of the 
feathers ; second quill longest, nearly equal to 
the first ; tail short ; legs long, slender ; tibia; 
naked far above tarsal joint ; feet small ; toes 
three, anterior, connected by a small membrane, 
claw of the centre pectinated. 
Type, C. Eurojpceus, bicinctus, &c. Europe, Asia, 
Africa. 
