from the colony of Natal, in South-eastern Africa. 215 



These birds live entirely in the dense underwood that abounds 

 along the coast. Their food consists of insects and seeds ; their 

 call very nnich resembles that of the Guinea-fowl ; they run ex- 

 ceedingly fast, and are shy and difficult to obtain; they roost in 

 trees at night, and, when on the ground, will fly to them imme- 

 diately, if chased by a dog, or in any other way suddenly dis- 

 turbed — otherwise they run. 



[The Natal Francolin is well described in Sir Andrew Smith's 

 work on the Birds of South Africa ; but the colouring of the 

 plate is not equally accurate. The male bird is there mentioned 

 as having only a single spur on each leg ; in the male specimen 

 sent by Mr. Ayres, there is a small rudimentary spur above the 

 principal one on the right leg, but no corresponding second spur 

 on the left leg ; judging from the length of the ordinary spurs 

 on both legs, it is probably an old bird, which ma}"^ be the cause 

 of this peculiarity. — J. H. G.] 



105. Francolinus subtorquatus, Smith. Coqui Francolin. 



Male and female. Eye dark; legs brownish-yellow ; bill dark. 

 In the crop of the female were insects and berries ; that of the 

 male was quite full of ants. 



These birds live in the open country, and are generally di- 

 spersed all over the colony of Natal ; they are to be found in 

 coveys, like the Partridge in England ; they roost on the ground 

 in any convenient thick tuft of grass, and nestle all together. 



These birds would be very numerous, were it not for the 

 burning of the grass, together with the hawks, wild cats, and 

 snakes which abound here, and are their mortal enemies. 



[The female bird sent by Mr. Ayres agrees with the descrip- 

 tion and figure of this species given by Sir A. Smith, in his 

 * Birds of South Africa ;' but the male which Mr. Ayres has sent 

 differs in having the throat a pale rufous, instead of white, and 

 in the total absence of the black crescent surrounding the 

 throat and terminating above the base of the upper mandible, 

 and also of the black line above the eye. Sir A. Smith says, 

 " The female is without spurs to the tarsi ; in other respects she 

 exhibits a close resemblance to the male:" but, judging from 

 the specimens sent by Mr. Ayres, I suspect that Sir A. Smith has 

 figured and described as a male an old female bird, which, by 



