1917-] the Birds of Yemen. 185 



Caccabis melanocephalus. 



Perdix melanocephala Riippel), N. Wirbeltli. 1835, p. 11, 

 pi. 5 : Djetta ( = Jiddali), Arabia. 



Nicholson, P. Z. S. 1851, p. 128, pi. Aves, xl. ; Yerbniy, 

 80, p. 19, 96, p. 31; Barnes, 93, p. ]66; O.-Grant, 1900,, 

 p. 272; Lorenz & Hellmayr, 1901, p. 245, 1907, p. 121. 



a, b. ^ chicks. Sok-al-Khamis, 7000 ft. 4. viii. 13. 



"Iris broAvn, bill black, feet reddish brown; hatched 

 under a hen.''' 



" The game-bird of the upper heights is the big Black- 

 headed Chikore, and a very difficult bird he is to bag. To 

 begin with, he is disgracefully persecuted by anyone who has 

 a weapon of precision, and w hat Yemen Arab has not ? He 

 prefers therefore to pick a scanty living among lonely kopjes 

 where cultivation is not, or roam about the black breasts of 

 mountain-giants, where food is even scarcer. In this latter 

 case the covey (usually three brace or so) will leave its home 

 among the boulders of some sheltered ravine, and file up 

 stealthily at dark to feed on lofty terraced fields of barley." 



The Arabian Red-legged Partridge is figured very well by 

 Ruppell, and also,,by Dr. Nicholson of the East India 

 Company's service, who obtained it some twenty miles 

 inland from Mokha, and named it Francolinus yemensis. 

 The figure drawn by Wolf is quite inaccurate, and was 

 probably prepared from a description or from a rough sketch 

 by Dr. Nicholson. The species is confined to south-west 

 Arabia. 



The chicks sent home by Mr. Buiy are yellowish brown 

 above, speckled with a few white and black markings on the 

 lower back ; below, the chin and throat are white, the breast 

 pale brown, some of the feathers with white central streaks, 

 the rest of the lower parts pale slaty. 



Numida ptilorhyncha ptilorhyncha. 



Numida ptilorhyncha Lesson, Traite, 1831, p. 498 : Mareb 

 river, Abyssinia (C. Grant). 



a. S- Hajeilah, 2080 ft. lO.iv. 13. 



"Bill: upper mandible dark broAvn, lower and tip of 



