paragraph appeared:—•“ Rara avis. .A beautiful specimen of a rare bird, the Cream-Coloured Courser,
Cursorius Europeeus, was shot this week in Hackney Marsh, near the Victoria Station, by Mr. G. Beresford,
o f the White House. I t was found in the open marsh, and ran with- incredible swiftness, and it was very
difficult to make it take wing.”
In October 1864 a specimen was killed near Maryport, in Cumberland, and is now in the possession of
Mr. T. H. Allis, of York : this is the last instance known to me of the occurrence o f the bird in Britain.
I t will be observed that all the specimens enumerated have been taken in England, and always in autumn.
On the continent of Europe it is scarcely more plentiful than with us, excepting in the more southern
countries, in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, bordering on the native habitat of
the species, where, as might naturally be inferred, its appearance is more frequent. The very aspect o f the
bird, whether we regard its buff- o r sand-coloured plumage, or the peculiar structure o f its legs, indicates
that it is a denizen o f desert and sandy plains, a creature o f the S ah a ra ; and in such localities it dwells
throughout the greater p art o f Africa, north of the equator, from Tunis to Egypt, in Persia, and in the
Punjab and Scinde, whence I have received several examples; I have also a specimen from the Cape de
Verd Islands.
For a knowledge o f its eggs we are indebted to the researches of the Rev. H. B. Tristram, who sent to
Mr. Hewitson the following notes respecting them :— “ Although during the winter o f 1856-57 I penetrated
several hundred miles into the Algerian Sahara, and beyond its limits as far as between latitude 31° and 30°,
yet this bird only once came under my observation, being evidently for the most p art only a summer migrant
to those regions. In the month o f June 1 8 5 7 1 twice met with small flocks of them on the Hauts plateaux,
between Biskra and Batria, to the south o f Constantine. During the previous summer o f 1856 I had met
with the bird several times in the Western Sahara, north of Leghouat, and especially in the neighbourhood
o f Ain Oosera, a solitary caravansary in the desert, kept up by the French government as a halting-place.
Though certain the birds were breeding there a t the time, I was unable to detect their n e s t; but shortly
after my departure the keeper of the caravansary, who had assisted me in my search, and who had in previous
years frequently taken the eggs and cooked them as omelets along with those of Pterocles setarius,
found me the nest and sent me the eggs, which, he affirms, are always three in number, as indeed might
have been expected from the character of the bird. I t makes no nest whatever, but deposits its eggs on the
bare soil in the most arid plains. They bear a very striking resemblance both in shape and colour to some
o f the eggs o f the Norfolk Plover. The delicate undulations are not easily imitated in a drawing.”
The above notes are extracted from Mr. Hewitson’s paper on “ Recent Discoveries in European Oology,”
published in the ‘ Ibis ’ for 1859, in the plate accompanying which the egg is represented as nearly round in
form, and of a delicate pale buff or cream-colour, minutely streaked with pale violet, orange, and light red.
Of the isolated and well-defined genus to which this bird belongs, five, six, o r seven species are known.
They are all natives o f Africa and the hotter parts of India, and are so swift o f foot, and turn so frequently
when running, as to present the appearance of pieces o f paper blown about by the wind.
The general plumage of the adults is o f a light cinnamon-brown, becoming much paler on the under
surface, especially on the chin and abdomen, which parts are nearly white; forehead cinnamon-red; occiput
and p art of the nape ashy g rey ; back of the neck black; from above the eye to the occiput a band o f snow-
white, and below it another of black; primaries brownish black; secondaries brownish black on the inner
web, cinnamon-brown on the outer, with a small patch of brownish black near the extremities, and the tips
white; tail pale cinnamon, all, except the two central feathers, with a conspicuous, somewhat crescentshaped,
mark o f blackish hrown near the extremity, beyond which the tip is white; the black marks
occupy both webs o f all the feathers on which they occur, except the outer one, on which the black mark is
absent from tbe external web ; they are scarcely perceptible when the tail is closed; bill fleshy brown at
the base, blackish brown towards the t ip ; legs and feet creamy white; nails b lack ; irides brown.
The young birds until they are nearly adult have the feathers o f the upper surface crossed near the tip by
a narrow band of dark brown; in other respects the old and young are very similar.
The P late represents two adults and a young bird; the front figure is o f the natural size, the others somewhat
reduced.