io6 Allen's naturalist's library. 



II. THE painted francolin. francolinus pictus. 



Perdix picta, Jard. and Selb. 111. Orn. pi. 50. 



Perdix hepburnti, J. E. Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. i. pi. 55, fig. i 



(1830-32). 

 Francolinus picius, Hume and Marshall, Game Birds of India, ii. 

 p. 19, pi. (1879); Legge, B.Ceylon, iii. p. 744 (1880); 

 Gates, ed. Hume's Nests and Eggs Ind. B. iii. p. 430 

 (1890); Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 138 

 (1893). 

 Adult Male. — Differs from the male o'i F. francolinus in having 

 no trace of a chestnut collar ; the forehead and sides of the 

 head rust-red ; the throat paler rufous, spotted with black ; the 

 scapulars blacky edged with buff ; the under-parts black, covered 

 with round white spots. Spurs entirely wanting. 



Adult Female. — Very similar to the male, but the throat is 

 whitish and not spotted with black. 



Total length, 11 -6 inches; wing, 5*3; tail 2*5 ; tarsus, 17. 

 Range. — Western and Central India, extending in the west to 

 North Guzerat, northwards to Hamirpur, and south as far as 

 Coimbatore on the east and Masulipatam on the west. It is 

 also found in Ceylon. 



Habits. — This Painted Francolin is very locally distributed 

 over its range, and is far more arboreal in its habits than F. 

 francolijius, which rarely perches. It may often be met with 

 roosting on bushes and trees. Its favourite haunts are dry 

 fields studded with trees, the higher uplands covered with 

 scrub-jungle, or broken hilly ground, and it avoids the damper 

 lower-lying country where the Common Francolin is ordinarily 

 met with. 



Hybrid. — This species is known to cross with F. francolinus, 

 and Colonel E. A. Butler shot six or seven such hybrids near 

 Deesa, a locality where the ranges of the two species meet. 



For a figure of one of these hybrids see Hume and Marshall, 

 Game B. India, ii. p. 27, pi. fig. 2 (1879). 



