The genus _Cursorius_, or Courser, inhabits the hotter portions of the Old World. _C. gallicus_, the Cream-coloured Courser, which visits Britain and the southern half of Europe irregularly, is met with in the Canary and Cape Verd Islands, North Africa, and the countries from Arabia to Northern India. The brown bill is thick and decurved, the whitish legs are long; the plumage is buff, with slaty nape, black remiges, axillaries, under wing-coverts, and subterminal tail-bar; the face is white with a black post-ocular streak. Seldom found in flocks, this bird frequents dry sandy plains and deserts, crouching to avoid notice, running with extraordinary speed if approached, but rarely rising on the wing. The flight, however, is at times protracted. The food consists almost entirely of insects, such as grasshoppers, yet it includes small molluscs; the note is harsh; while two, or exceptionally three, round stone-coloured eggs with grey and brown markings are deposited on the bare ground. The axillaries and under wing-coverts are greyish-buff in _C. somalensis_, of Somaliland, but brownish-grey in _C. {295}rufus_, of South Africa, which has a black abdominal patch. _C. temmincki_ (_senegalensis_), of most of the Ethiopian Region, and _C. coromandelicus_, of India and Ceylon, are similar, but have the nape black and white, the latter possessing white tail-coverts. In the remaining species (_Rhinoptilus_ of some authors) the bill is almost straight. _C. bicinctus_ of South Africa is mottled with brown above, having much chestnut on the wings, white tail-coverts, and buff under parts crossed by two black pectoral bars. _C. bisignatus_, ranging from East Africa to Benguela, and _C. hartingi_ of Somali-Land, are hardly more than races of the above. _C. cinctus_ of East Equatorial Africa, and the barely separable _C. seebohmi_ of South-West Africa, are easily recognised by the four bands on the white lower surface, the highest and lowest being brown, and the two intermediate black, with a streaky buff space between them. _C. chalcopterus_, of the Ethiopian Region generally, and _C. albifasciatus_ with a more distinct white alar bar, are plain brown birds with metallic purple hues on the black primaries, white post-ocular streak and throat, and white belly surmounted by a black band. _C. bitorquatus_, of the districts near Madras, differs in shewing below three successive bands or gorgets, one of rufous and two of brown, separated by white. Though all Coursers agree in general habits, the last three seem to prefer bushy ground, and _C. rufus_ will perch in trees.