The Cream-coloured Swiftfoot is a native of Africa, especially Abyssinia; and 
an occasional visitant only of the southern provinces of Europe. Three instances 
of its capture in our own island have only yet been recorded. The first specimen 
was shot in Kent, and sent to Dr. Latham : the second, killed in Wales, found 
its way into the collection of the late Professor Sibthorpe, of Oxford: the third 
and last, discovered at Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, is in the possession of 
the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, of Yoxall Lodge ; a man equally distinguished by his 
eloquence as a Christian minister, and by his talents as a naturalist and a poet. 
Of the food, habits, or nidification of the Swiftfoot, little is, at present, known. 
The individual, shot in Kent, was observed to run with incredible swiftness, and 
occasionally pick up something from the earth. It suffered itself to be twice shot 
at; and could with difficulty be made to take wing. Its note was unlike that of 
any known bird. 
For figures and descriptions of the Cream-coloured Courser, see Temminck, 
Manuel d'Ornithologies vol. ii., p. 513 ; Weber, Atlas des Oiseaux d'Europe, 
Liv. 26, pi. 4 ; Selby, Illustrations of British Ornithology , Part ii., pi. 33, and 
vol. ii., p. 217 ; and Jenyns, Manual of British Vertebrate Animals, 176. 
Two other species of Cursorius are, “ to complete the monography of this 
little genus,” enumerated, and briefly described, by Temminck. The first, C. 
Asiaticus ,—Courte-vite de Coromandel,—inhabits Africa and India; and is distin¬ 
guished by the following specific characters: Vertex ruddy; neck and breast chest¬ 
nut-red ; nucha, wings, and tail, brown : higher parts of the abdomen black ; lower 
parts, rump, wing-coverts, and extremities of the tail-feathers, white. Beak black; 
legs yellowish. Length eight inches. The last, C. bicinctus ,-—Courte-vite a 
double collier,—found in the interior of Africa, by Le Vaillant, is characterized 
by the existence, as the specific designation indicates, of a double black collar 
around the neck. It is ten inches long; inhabits sterile lands at a distance from 
water ; and runs with amazing swiftness. 
From the structure of the beak and foot, and the fleetness in running, exhibited 
by the three known species of Swiftfoot, and probably also from the sandy and 
sterile districts selected for their habitation, Temminck was led to regard them as 
nearly allied to the smaller exotic species of the Bustard genus. In accordance 
with these views, the Cursorius is made immediately to follow the Otis genus, 
in Temminck’s valuable work, and in the first edition of Selby’s Illustrations. 
On deliberate examination, however, the Swiftfoots have been found more closely 
to resemble, in their external characters, the Plovers than the Bustards : and 
Cursorius has consequently been arranged, by later ornithologists, and by Selby, 
in his second edition, as a genus belonging to the Charadriadce , or Plover family. 
In general form and character at least, the subject of my present sketch exhibits 
a more striking resemblance to the Himantopus melanopterus , or Black-winged 
Stilt, than to any other bird with which I am acquainted. 
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