this gentleman is the only English writer with whom I
am acquainted who has published any details of consequence
as to the breeding-habits of the present species.
Alluding to a visit to the island of Euerteventura
in 18S8, Mr. Meade-Waldo writes (loc. supra, cit.
pp. 505, 506) of a second visit in February 1889, as
follows:—“ I got on better this year at finding the
nests of Cursorius gallicus, but they are certainly very
difficult to discover. This is caused by the perfectly
open country, the bird being of the same colour as the
ground and never betraying fear or uneasiness, and the
eggs being exactly like the stones that cover the plain.
There is really no nest, the bigger stones being just
moved away to make room for the bird to sit upon the
two eggs. The young are much easier to find than
the eggs. The hen only remains at the nest whilst she
is sitting; the cocks either go about in little parties
or mix with birds that are not breeding. When the
young are hatched, however, both parents care for
them, the male being rather more shy than the hen.
It is easy to tell the cock from the hen while running
about | he carries himself much higher and seems to
have a bigger head | when shot, this difference vanishes.
The males breed in their first year, as two that I shot
were in partly spotted plumage. Nevertheless, many
do not breed at all, as I saw flocks of some fifteen* to
forty birds, whilst others had eggs or small young. In
flocks they were very wild, and reminded one generally
of Lapwings; they skim a great deal with outstretched,
motionless wings. Their note is a low qua qua when
they have young. When shot this bird ejects a
brownish fluid from its mouth, which soils its feathers
very much. I fancy that this is natural and voluntary.
Where the birds are most frequent this fluid may be
seen in patches; and a pair of young ones that I kept
alive for three days ejected some of it when undisturbed
and apparently at their ease. I think that I
should have succeeded in rearing this pair had it not
been that I could not spare time for the almost ceaseless
attention that they required. They ate flies, small
snails, and cochineal bugs, also small pieces of lizards.
They ran at a great rate, holding themselves very
upright, with their wings stretched out wide.”
The normal range of this bird extends from the
Canary Isles throughout North Africa, Arabia, and
Persia to the north-western plains of Hindostan; its
occurrences in Europe being, though not very rare,
purely erratic and accidental. Only two skins of
Cream-coloured Courser have been sent to me from
Spain during the twenty-five years that I have collected
the birds of that country ; these were killed in the
Marisma de Lebrija in August. For some interesting
details on the habits of this species in captivity and
freedom in Morocco I refer my readers to the notes of
Favier, of Tangier, as set forth by Colonel Irby in his
‘ Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar.’