590 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
common Pheasant. On this farm we killed all four Francolins 
usually found in the colony, viz., F'. clamator, P. nudicollis, F. afer, 
and F’, Levaillantii. 
Mr. L. C. Layard sent us the eggs from hence: they are precisely 
similar to those of the preceding. Mr. Rickard informs us that it 
is common at Port Elizabeth, but not very numerous near Hast 
London, where, however, it is said to be getting more plentiful, and 
Captain Trevelyan notes it from the neighbourhood of Kingwilliams- 
town. Mr. Barratt writes :—‘‘I procured this bird in the district of 
Lydenburg and in the Chalumna district in British Kaffraria, always 
in the thick bush, where their loud cackling note is heard during 
the greater part of the early morning.” Mr. Gurney states that a 
specimen from Damara Land was in Mr. Andersson’s last collection. 
General colour brown, the feathers of the back having a black 
stripe down the centre; those of chest cinereous, with black centre 
stripe; those of neck white, with black stripe, very broad; feathers 
of breast, belly, and flanks, dark brownish-black, with a white stripe 
running up each side of the shaft; chin, fore-part of throat, and 
space round the eye, bare, and bright crimson. Length, 13” to 15’; 
wing, 7”; tail, 44”. 
568. Francotinus apspersus, Waterhouse. Red-billed Francolin. 
In all the members of the genus Francolinus the throat is 
feathered. The present species has no white shaft stripes in the 
feathers of the back and wings, and has the chin, throat, and entire 
under parts evenly and narrowly barred with black. 
It is found about the Orange River, and northward through the 
country to Ovampoland. It appears from all accounts to be very 
common, and to replace the ‘ Pheasant,’”? which it somewhat 
resembles. Eggs brought us by Mr. J. Chapman are singularly 
shaped, appearing truncated at each end. The shell also is of 
remarkable thickness, being the 24th part of an inch, and very dense 
and heavy. Inside pure white and iridescent, outside very pale cream 
colour. Axis, 1” 7”; diameter, 1” 1”. Mr. Andersson found it 
at Lake N’gami, and writes:—“ This is the most common and 
abundant Francolin indigenous to Damara and Great Namaqua 
Land, where it is found in coveys, which, in favourable seasons, not 
unfrequently consist of from ten to fourteen individuals. This 
species is seldom found at any great distance from the banks of the 
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