THE FRANCOLINS. lOI 



is difficult to follow them ; it is often difiicult to flush them, 

 and when flushed they constantly rise so little, and dart so 

 directly downhill, that they are lost sight of before it is possi- 

 ble to fire." 



Nest. — Very slight ; a few blades of dry grass laid in a depres- 

 sion in the ground under a bush or a ledge of rock or among 

 stones. 



Eggs. — Vary in number from eight to fourteen, and sometimes 

 more are laid ; lengthened ovals, generally somewhat pointed 

 towards one end. The colour varies from nearly white to stone- 

 cream ; shell somewhat glossed and minutely pitted. Average 

 measurements, 1*42 by i'02 inch. 



II. key's seesee partridge, ammoperdix heyi. 



Perdix heyi, Temm. PI. Col. v. pis. 37, 38 [Nos. 328, 329] 



(1825). 



Caccabts heyii, Gray, List Gall. Brit. Mus. p. 37 (1844) ; Wyatt, 



Mamm. and Avif. Sinai, pi. xix. (1873). 

 Ammoperdix heyi, Gould, B. Asia, vii. pi. 2 (1851); Ogilvie- 

 Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii, p. 125 (1893). 



Adult Male. — Differs chiefly from the male of A. horihami in 

 having the general colour of the upper-parts much paler ; no 

 black band across the forehead or above the eyes ; the chin 

 and middle of throat chestnut. Total length, 9*5 inches; 

 wing, 5; tail, 2*5 ; tarsus, 1-25. 



Adult Female. — Resembles the female of A. honhami. 



Range. — Both sides of the Red Sea, extending north to the 

 Dead Sea, westwards to Egypt and Nubia, about as far south 

 as 20° N. latitude, and eastwards to Muscat, Persian Gulf. 



THE FRANCOLINS. GENUS FRANCOLINUS. 

 Fra7icoUnus, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xi. pt. ii. p. 316 



(1819). 



Type, F. f7'ancolinus (Linn.). 

 The feathers of the feet scarcely extend below the tarsal 



