THE COURSERS. 
131 
genus Cursofius are known, of which three are peculiar to 
Africa, one to the desert portions of the Mediterranean Sub- 
region and Central Asia, while one, C. coromandeliciis, is only 
found in India. 
I. THE CREAM-COLOURED COURSER. CURSORIUS G.ALLICUS. 
C haradrius gallictis, Gme\. Syst. Nat. i. p. 692 (1788). 
Cursorius europceus, Macg. Brit. B. iv. p. 42 (1852); Saunders, 
ed. Yarn Brit. B. iii. p. 238 (1883). 
Cnrsorhts gallicus. Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 425, pi. 544 (1875) > 
B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 156 (1883) ; Seebohm, Brit. B. 
iii. p. 63 (1885); Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 519 (1889); 
Lilford, Col. Eig. Brit. B. part xxviii. (1894) ; Sharpe, Cat. 
B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 34. 
Adult Male. — General colour isabelline-buff or pale-tawny on 
the back ; wing-coverts like the back ; primary-quills black, 
the secondaries also black, but with sandy-coloured edges and 
white fringes at the ends; tail-feathers sandy-rufous, tipped 
with white, before which is a black sub-terminal band ; fore- 
part of crown sandy-rufous ; hinder crown and nape pale bluish- 
grey, concealing a black patch on the nape ; lores isabellinc- 
white ; a broad white band above the eye, joining on the nape, 
followed by a black band from behind the eye, above the 
ear-coverts to the nape ; feathers below the eye whitish ; ear- 
coverts sandy-rufous; fore-part of cheeks and upper throat 
white ; lower throat and under surface of body sandy-isabelline, 
becoming whiter on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; 
under wing-coverts, axillaries, and quill-lining black; the lesser 
lower wing-coverts sandy-rufous ; bill dusky-black ; the angle 
of the mouth and base of the lower mandible white ; feet 
china-white ; iris umber-brown. Total length, 9 inches ; cul- 
men, I'o ; wing, 6-35 ; tail, 2-35 ; tarsus, 2-25. 
Adult Female. — Similar in colour to the male. Total length, 
pinches; culmen, 095; wing, 6 2; tail, 2-3; tarsus, 2-1. 
Young Birds. — Similarly coloured to the adults, but with wavy 
bands of dusky-grey all over the upper surface. 
Range in Great Britain. — An accidental wanderer to our islands, 
not yet noticed in Ireland, and only once in Scotland. About 
twenty examples have, however, been recorded from various 
K 2 
