Rhinoptilus

Rhinoptilus is a genus of coursers, a group of wading birds. There are four species, which breed in Africa and South Asia. They have long legs, short wings and long pointed bills which curve downwards. Although classed as waders, they inhabit deserts and similar arid regions. Like the pratincoles, the coursers are found in warmer parts of the Old World. They hunt insects by sight, pursuing them on foot.^[2]

Rhinoptilus
Three-banded courser (Rhinoptilus cinctus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Glareolidae
Subfamily:	Cursoriinae
Genus:	Rhinoptilus Strickland, 1852
Type species
Cursorius chalcopterus[1] Temminck, 1824
Species
R. cinctus R. chalcopterus R. bitorquatus

Species in the genus have earlier been placed under other genus names including Macrotarsius (Blyth), Chalcopterus (Reich.) and Hemerodromus (Heuglin). Some characteristics of this largely African genus include a bill that is shorter and stouter than in Cursorius, the orbits are feathered and the 2nd and 3rd primaries nearly equal and the longest. The tarsus is long and scutellate, the feet are short and the outer toe is joined by partial webbing.^[3]

Their 2–3 eggs are laid on the ground.

Species in taxonomic order

• Three-banded courser Rhinoptilus cinctus
• Bronze-winged courser or Violet-tipped courser, Rhinoptilus chalcopterus
• Jerdon's courser Rhinoptilus bitorquatus
• Double-banded courser, Rhinoptilus africanus