Walker near Lanark (Zool. s.s. p, 1459), the only occurrence
as yet recorded in Scotland: and was dissected by
Mr. J. H. Gurney, Junr., who contributed the following
notes: “ In the throat was a small fly undigested; the
tongue is narrow* with thë^ppéaiancë-of'bristles at its-base,
acute, and seven-eighths of an inch in length-; -the oesophagus
three and a half inches long, its width inconsiderably
the provëntriculus three-quarters of an inch long. The
stomach is of the ordinary shape, compressed, an inch long,
and seven-eighths in breadth; inner coat1-Ml of wrinkles.
The intestine only fourteen inches long ; it varies in width.
The csecai, which arise at a short distance from the endffare
about two-and-a-quarter rinehes in - length. | The sternum
closely resembles that of a redshank.” * Mr. Guméy-.also
mentions, but without any particulars of capture* a ^specimen
of the Cream-coloured’Courser obtained by Mr. Hart,
the well-known bird-stuffer %f. Christchurch, Hants, in the
vicinity (Zbtdy.sts. p. 1512)r
In the first week of November, 1870, an eighteenth example
was killed on the sea-shore atGmwick; opposite Holy Island,
Northumberland (Zool. s.s. pp. 2522-, 2562), and is now in
the" Berwick Museum;' and with it,£?bhe lift o f visitants
closes''for the present. It will be observed that, with one
exception,'all the occurrences where the dateris known, have
been in the aufunm, and in one caëë itüs oniecord th a t -t|e
Wind was. southerly.
- On the Continent the Cream-coloured Courser has iènce
straggled to Holland, and on three four - occasions to
Northern andr Central Germany. To thénorth of France f t
I P * an irregular visitant-; nor is its appearance aL-all frequent
in the southern provinces, where fthe condition slof: soil
and climate might'appear to invite its‘. ’presence. - In Spain
the Editor' bnly.knows-of a few occurrences ;.,a-nd-*to- Italy
its visits arëtvery irregular, although less 'êso- in.,Sicily ;v and
the same maybe said of Malta, where Mr.- Wright
Has examined sperdltnen-s shöt imM&'rch, April, and May.
To the southern districts of Russia I t 'isjÏÏfó A straggler,
* In R. Cray’s West of Scotland;’
CREAM-CÖÏ1OURED COURSER. 243
The true home of the Cream-coloured Courser commences
at the Canary Islands in the west, where Dr. C. Bolle
found it tolerably common, and, upon the arid plains, even
numerous. In Morocco, according to-the late -M. Favier of
Tangier, whose interesting notes - are published by Col.
Irby,* individuals appear annually during July on some
plains not far from Tangier : the duration of their stay and
thdir numbers varying with the abundance of insect food
and with the temperature, and they leave in August or September.
They doubtless retire'' to a» warmer climate, for
Canon Tristram only once saw them during the winters,^of
1856-57 in. the Algerian. Sahara, as far south as 80° 819
N.Jat. ; \but in-the summer ef 185'6, and towards the end of
June, 1857, they were observeflJ%smail flocks on the elevated
table-lands about'Biskra; Batna, Constantine, and Laghouat.
In 1 Egypt this species does not appear to be common: at
least- not in winter ;- Yon “Heugtih found it resident in
Arabia Petrear, the coasts of the Red "Sea;, and Kordofan ;
Mr, Blanford obtained it in Persia and in Baluchistan ; and
thence it occurs through Sind and the north and western
districts ofethe l£rij>b, where Mr. Hume found it breeding.-
j -The.1 egg of 'th®; Cream-ooloured Courser was figured by
the late W. CW Hewitson (Ibis, 1859,‘fK’ii. fig. P from a
specimen brought from Algeria byVCanon Tristram, whbr l
contributed notes j to -the effect that it was taken, with two
others, by-the- keeper of the1 (caravansary of Ain *OoserR in
the Western Sahara, wfeo said that"the feg’gs ^ re deposited
in the bare soil-in the most arid* plains, and that the complement
usually consisted of three. Viera1, however, told Bolle
that; in 'the: Canaries only two were deposited ; Favier believed
tba'tjtwo wasAhe usual number; and in India neither- ]
Mr. Hume nor his cdHfflflfcrs-«appear to have' found rOTy in
the same clutch; i North African Aj|gsi are generally 'of a
broad ovdl shape,f of: atSt&fe-bjiff ground colour, marbled
with 'purplish-ga?eys under^shelHmarkings and bfown surface-
blotches: the one figured by-iHewitson measures 1'3 by
"1*08 in. Mr. Hume, who' has’obtained a large series in
* Orn;£jSjfr. Gibraltar,