474 
PLOVER GROUP. 
cream-colour. The nearly black axillaries and under wing-coverts, coupled with the 
buff outer webs of the secondaries, will, however, serve to distinguish it from all 
its allies, the small courser ( 0somalensis ) being smaller, with greyish butf 
axillaries. In length the cream-coloured courser varies from 9 to 10 inches. 
Essentially a desert-bird, the cream-coloured courser (as may be seen in a case 
of desert-haunting birds in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington) 
harmonises so closely in coloration with its sombre surroundings as to be almost 
invisible at a short distance. In such districts, Mr. Seebohm states that “ it lives 
BLACK-BACKED COURSER (J nat. size). 
on the arid sand-plains or on the bare elevated plateaus, where scarce a tuft of 
scanty herbage or a bush is to be found. It loves to frequent the bases of sand¬ 
hills, and is sometimes seen in the miserable desert-pastures or amongst the 
sand-downs on the outskirts of the oases. In these dismal, uninteresting regions 
the courser trips about in pairs, or less frequently in little parties. If it is not 
exactly a shy bird, it appears to be a very wary one, and runs quickly off to 
conceal itself as the traveller approaches. It prefers to run like lightning over 
the sand rather than to take wing, every now and then pausing for a moment to 
look warily around to see if it is still pursued. When alarmed, it often runs off 
and conceals itself either by squatting close to the sand, or hiding under a stone or 
tuft of herbage, where its sand-coloured plumage effectually conceals it from view. 
