Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/26

 covered with a cere at its base. The leg is slender, the foot furnished with three toes, which are armed with delicately small claws, and almost entirely unconnected. The tolerably thick plumage is usually of a nearly uniform reddish brown colour, or sandy yellow, and varies according to the sex and age. These birds inhabit the arid plains and sandy deserts of Africa and Southern Asia, one species alone frequenting such spots as are in the vicinity of water, into which, however, it does not venture to wade. Their flight is rapid and powerful, and upon the ground they run with almost incredible ease and speed. Insects and larvæ constitute their diet; the seeds occasionally found in their stomachs being only accidentally swallowed in their hasty search for food. Except during the breeding season they live in small parties, and frequently associate with birds of similar habits. It is undetermined whether the Tachydromi should be regarded as stationary birds or not; some species certainly wander over the country, and occasionally appear at great distances from their native haunts.

THE CREAM-COLOURED COURSER.

The (Cursorius isabellinus) possesses a slender body and large wings, in which the second quill is longer than the rest; a comparatively short, broadly-rounded tail, composed of from twelve to fourteen feathers; a long, decidedly-curved bill, slender tarsi, and feet furnished with three toes. The thick, soft plumage is of a cream-colour, the upper parts of the body having a reddish and the under side a yellowish tinge; the nape is blueish grey, divided from the rest of the body by a white and a black line commencing at the eyes, and merging into a triangular patch on the nape; the secondaries are sand-yellow, with a black spot near the white tip, and a pale inner web. All the tail-feathers are reddish cream-colour, except two in the centre; these are tipped with white, and striped with black. The eye is brown, the beak blackish, and the foot straw-colour. This species is from eight inches and a half to nine inches long, and nineteen broad; the wing measures six inches, and the tail two inches and a half. The female closely resembles her mate; the young are at once recognised by the mottled and spotted appearance of their somewhat lighter plumage; their primary quills have yellow tips, and the nape is adorned by a whitish stripe bordered by a few black feathers.

The Cream-coloured Courser is a native of Africa, and is met with in Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia, being most numerous in the last-mentioned country; it appears in summer along the coast-*line from Tangiers to Tripoli, and is seldom found north of the Mediterranean. This bird is one of the rarest visitors to our shores, but three or four specimens have occurred in Great Britain since 1785. Some years ago one was shot in Kent, whilst running over some light land. So little timidity did it exhibit that the gentleman who killed it had time to send for a gun, which did not readily go off, and he in consequence missed his aim. The report frightened the bird away, but after making a turn or two it again settled within a hundred yards, and was dispatched. It was observed to run with incredible swiftness, and at intervals to pick up something from the ground, and was so bold as to render it difficult to make it rise in order to shoot it while on the wing. The note was not like that of a Plover, nor, indeed, to be compared with that of any known bird.

From February to July these Coursers live in pairs, and are usually met with running together over the arid sands of their desert haunts. Travellers tell us that they frequently dart along with such extraordinary rapidity that, like the spokes in a swiftly-turned wheel, their limbs become invisible, so that at a distance they present the appearance of legless bodies darting through the air; if pursued by man, it is not uncommon for them thus to avoid his approach for hours together. If very sorely pressed, they rise upon the wing to a moderate height, and hover for a time before recommencing their wild career. They will allow a rider to come nearer than a man on foot; but even when mounted, it is extremely difficult to get a shot at them, as their many enemies soon render