CURSORIUS.
Bill about as long as head and considerably curved; no hind toe; middle toe very long and its claw pectinated; inhabit arid and sandy country, gregarious, wary, swift runners; when alarmed, squat like Stone Curlew; colour protective; insectivorous ; nest on ground, eggs dull stone buff, marbled and spotted with pale purplish grey and dull reddish brown.
Cursorius gallicus gallicus (Gmelin). COURSER. Fr. Courvite ; //a/. Corrione biondo.
? adult. Reddish sandy ; occiput grey, line behind eye white and one below it black, both meeting on nape ; under wings black (conspicuous in flight). Bill black, lighter below at
base. Legs and feet china white. Wing 150-165. Tarsus 56-58. Bill 21-23. Young : sandy coloured throughout with angular black markings on upper parts.
Resieleizt.—N.W . Africa, chiefly south of Atlas, and through Sahara to Egypt ; Canary Islands ; also through S.W. Asia to India. Wanders tq Europe, even north to Britain, Denmark, and Finland, but more frequent in south.