140 PHiSIANID^. 



Francolinus peli, Temm. Bijdr. tot de Dierk. 1. p. oO, pi. (1854) 



[Dabocrom]. 

 Peliperdix lathami, Bonap. C. R. xlii. p. 882 (1856). 

 Perdicideus lathami, Hein. J.f. 0. 1860, p. 198. 



Adult male. Top of the head olive-grey, shading into grey on the 

 forehead and margined with white ; upper back dark olive-brown, 

 each feather with a wide white shaft-stripe, edged externally 

 with black ; middle back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, except the 

 primary-coverts, olive-brown, widely edged with chestnut, mostly 

 dotted or marked with black and with white shafts ; lower back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts olive-brown, with paler margins and 

 markings. Primaries, primarj'-coverts, and secondaries dark brown, 

 the middle part of the outer webs of the primaries margined with 

 white ; the outer webs of the secondaries margined with chestnut 

 and buff, and in the outer ones barred and marked with chestnut ; 

 a black band commences on the lores, and passing through the eye 

 circumscribes the top of the head, dividing it from the grey cheek, 

 ear-coverts, and sides of the neck. Chin, throat, and front of neck 

 black. Chest and breast black, each feather with a white heart- 

 shaped subterminal spot. Sides and flanks olive-brown, with white 

 black-edged shaft-stripes. Belly and under tail-coverts whitish buff, 

 the latter more or less spotted and barred with black. Centre tail- 

 feathers like the upper tail-coverts ; three outer pairs blackish brown, 

 marked with rufous and tipped with white. Total length 10 inches, 

 wing 5-6, tail 2-7, tarsus 1-7. 



Adult female differs from the male in having the whole ground- 

 colour of the top of the head and iipper parts olive-brown, faintly 

 and irregularly barred with rufous buff and black, many of the 

 scapulars and wing-coverts blotched with black ; and the chest- 

 and breast-feathers are widely margined outside the black with 

 brown. Total length 9-5 inches, wing 5"4, tail 2*4, tarsus 1'6. 



Youmj birds resemble the female, but the chin and throat are 

 white ; the general colour of the upper parts is much more uniform ; 

 the scapulars, secondaries, lesser and median coverts are mostly dull 

 chestnut ; the scapulars and coverts each with an oval or irregular 

 black blotch, edged internally with buff at the inner web. The 

 feathers on the underparts are whitish, with a wide black margin 

 on each side. Nestlings have the top of the head, back, and rump 

 deep chestnut ; no white shafts to the feathers of the upper parts, 

 but most of the scapulars and lesser and median coverts have a 

 white triangular dot at the extremity of the shaft ; otherwise the 

 plumage is much the same as the above. 



Nab. Loango Coast, Gaboon, Gold Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, 

 and Senegambia. 



a, b. d 2 ad. st. W. Africa. Purchased. 



c. S ad. sk. W. Africa. Purchased. 



d. d" ad. sk. Coast of Guinea. Purchased. 



e. 2 ad. sk. Gold Coast ( T. E. Buckley). Shelley Coll. 

 /. (S ad. sk. Fantee {Gov. Ussher). Shelley Coll. 



fj, h. Pull. sk. Fantee. Dr. R. B. Sharpe[P.] 



