20 Mr. D. F. Gilfillan on some 



chiefly from my experience as a shooting man, and that I 

 have not made that study o£ such habits as would entitle me 

 to lay any claim to hioioing them in the sense that a naturalist 

 would use the word. My experience is not a very extensive 

 one, and I intend saying as little as possible about birds 

 wdiich is not culled from my own experience. For this 

 reason I have headed my paper " Notes on some Game Birds 

 of South Africa." I also find that the subject is too exten- 

 sive a one for a single paper, and I have therefore restricted 

 myself to the Phasianidse. I do not propose to give a de- 

 scription of each bird full enough to enable a novice to 

 identify a species; to do that would make my paper too long. 

 Heference must be made to one or other of the standard 

 ornithological works for the description necessary to abso- 

 lutely identify any game bird unknown to the finder thereof, 

 and it is very probable, judging from my own experience, 

 that even then he will not always be able to make certain of 

 the name of the bird. 



I start with what I consider the premier sporting birds of 

 South Africa, namely Partridges, which belong to the order 

 G;dlin2e, family Phasianidse, genus Francolinus. These birds 

 are not migratory so far as my observation serves to teach 

 me, and are found in every part of South Africa where I 

 have been, or about which I have enquired from others. 



When writing of Partridges as the '^ premier sporting 

 birds*" I do not include the so-called Phensants of South 

 Africa in that description. They are a skulking race of 

 runners, generally found in thick thorny bush, reeds, and 

 tall grass, in kloofs in the mountains, or on the plains near 

 Mater, very difficult to flush and ruination to the sportsman's 

 temper and to the training of his dogs. 



My experience of Partridges is confined to the following 

 species : — ; 



(a) Francolinus coqui.^ generally known as the " Swomj)i " 

 from the Zulu name, but corrupted into " Shriinpi " by 

 some. 



(b) Francolinus a/nra?u<5, generally kno a n as the "Grey 

 Wins." 



