86 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



dible yellow, with a blackish patch on each side near the tip; the 

 feet and toes yellow ; the claws black. 



This is a slender, graceful bird, with comparatively long legs and 

 tail. The adult male has the head and upper neck soft gray, streaked 

 with blackish ; the back and exposed portions of the wings slaty gray ; 

 the rump and upper tail coverts pure white ; the tail feathers black- 

 ish ; the outspread wings and tail with many white spots ; the entire 

 underparts immaculate white. The adult female differs in having the 

 head, nape, and upper back chestnut. The immature has the top of 

 the head colored like the back and a broad white collar across the 

 hindneck. 



Order GALLIFORMES 

 Family PHASIANIDAE 



FRANCOLINUS PINTADEANUS (Scopoli) 



Chinese Francolin 



Tetrao (Pintadeanus) Scopoli, Deliciae florae et faunae insubricae, pt. 2, 1786, 



p. 93 (China, ex Sonnerat). 

 Francolinus chinensis, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, p. 235 



(listed) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 735 ("Throughout Siam"). 

 Francolinus pintadeanus phayrei, Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 



1931, p. 168 (Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep) ; 1936, p. 79 (Chiang Mai, Doi 



Suthep). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1934, p. 276 



(Chiang Mai). 



The francolin is seldom seen but seems to be fairly common in 

 suitable territory, at least in Chiang Mai Province, whence all the 

 northern specimens have come. Eisenhofer sent to Stockholm a male 

 from Khun Tan. I have taken it on Doi Ang Ka ( Pha Mon) at about 

 5,000 feet, near Chom Thong, and at Chiang Mai. On Doi Suthep 

 it occurs up to 4,600 feet. 



It is confined to the dry, deciduous jungle of the plains, to the open 

 hill-forest, and to those often extensive areas on the mountains 

 where the evergreen has been destroyed and supplanted by Eupa- 

 torium and lalang grass. In such places the guttural song kd-kd' — 

 kd-kd' -d may be heard on all sides, yet only rarely can the singers be 

 raised. The flesh is a favorite article of diet, and the birds are often 

 seen alive in the markets; such individuals are virtually always males 

 that have been ensnared by means of a male decoy. The decoy is kept, 

 when not at work, in a wicker cage suspended from a window, and the 

 song of such a bird is a familiar sound in almost every village, at 

 least in the breeding season. A specimen taken on May 7 was found 

 to have the gonads greatly enlarged. 



Male examples, taken in May, had the irides bright brown; the 

 bill black; the eyelids dull olive-greenish; the feet and toes golden- 

 orange; the claws horny brown. An October female had the irides 



