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PERNISTES SWAINSONI. 587 
on the Shire at Chibisa, and in the interior about forty miles east of 
the Victoria Falls. Its nest is formed in the ground among grass. 
The species keeps more to the forest than the common Guinea-fowl, 
which frequents the open plains, and resorts during the dry season to 
the river every night. Native name, Khanga Tore.” 
Fig. Elliot, Monogr. Phas. ii. pl. 46. 
Fam. PERDICIDA. 
564, PERNISTES SWAINSONI. Swainson’s Francolin. 
Francolinus swainsonii, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 269. 
The members of the genus Pternistes, according to Captain 
Shelley, have the chin and throat bare. The males have a sharp 
spur, the plumage of the sexes being otherwise perfectly similar. 
The tail is not hidden by the upper tail-coverts, and the feathers on 
the forehead are always parted by the culminal ridge. The present 
species may be recognized by the absence of white stripes on the 
back or breast, the feathers of the latter being more or less 
vermiculated, and having moderately narrow dark shaft stripes. 
The general colour of the breast is buffish brown, and the vermicu- 
lations are very indistinct. 
The expedition under Sir A. Smith first found this Francolin in a - 
valley immediately south of Kurrichane, perching on the branches of 
decayed trees near the margin of a small rivulet. To these places 
they appear to resort at night, feeding by day on the banks of rivers. 
In this, and in their habit of effecting their escape by fleetness 
of foot, rather than by taking wing, they resemble the colonial 
F. clamator and P. nudicollis, to which they are closely allied. We 
have no notes of the occurrence of this species from any of our corre- 
spondents in the eastern districts or in Natal, and Mr. T. E. Buckley 
states that it was first met with by him two or three days north of 
Pretoria, and thence it was common in all suitable localities into the 
Matabele country. He writes :—“ This is the bird called ‘ Pheasant’ 
by the colonists; they are generally found in coveys, are very quick 
runners, and require a good deal of exertion on one’s part to flush 
them.” In the Transvaal, according to Mr. Ayres, it “is exceedingly 
numerous in some parts of the Magaliesbergen along the banks of the 
Crocodile or Limpopo River, and of the Eland’s River, amongst the 
