Expedition to the Zambesi River. 445 



236. COTUKNIX DELEGORGUEI Delcg. 



By no means common. Found on open waste land, 

 especially in old marpela-fields. 



Adult S (Kafue river, Jan. 5, 1898). Total length (measured 

 in the flesh) 7'26 inches, wing 3'6. Iris brown; legs and feet 

 flesh-colour. 



Adult ? (Chicowa, Oct. 11,1898). Total length (measured 

 in the flesh) 8*65 inches, wing 3'8. Iris hazel ; legs and feet 

 flesh-colour. 



237. Ptkrnistes swainsoni (Smith). 



The most numerous of the Francolins on the Zambesi, and 

 found on the higher reaches from Zumbo onward, being 

 especially plentiful in the neighbourhood of that place. This 

 species frequents flat, dusty ground, overgrown with bushes 

 of the cactus plant skirting the river. It is never to be found 

 very far away from water, each flock having its own particular 

 drinking-spot, which is visited every morning and evening as 

 regular as clockwork. In the evening of Dec. 20 we pitched 

 our tent for the night at a spot where a number of these 

 birds were seen. Towards nightfall they became very noisy, 

 constantly running to the crest of the little plateau above 

 our camp to see if we had left, and uttering all the time dis- 

 cordant cries, that resembled those of captured fowls. We 

 had evidently come where the flock was accustomed to seek 

 the river's edge. 



An immature female, killed at the end of December, has 

 no chestnut margins to the feathers of the breast and belly, 

 while the secondaries are very much barred and mottled with 

 black. 



During the pairing-season the males become very cla- 

 morous, giving vent to cries like those of a cock Pheasant 

 as it flies to roost ; at other times deep, hoarse croaks that 

 sound very loud in the echoing valleys of the Zambesi. On 

 December 23 Ave found a nest containing five eggs. It was 

 among weeds, and in a hollow scraped by the bird itself, 

 and lined with dead leaves. 



