FRANCOLmUS AFRICANUS. 



GPvEY-WING FRAXCOLIN or CAVE 

 PARTRIDGE. 



(Plate 19.) 



Francolinusajricaniis, Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool., xi, p. 323 (1819) ; 

 Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxri, p. 152 (1893) ; Wood- 

 ward, Natal Bu-ds, p. 162 (1899) ; Sclater, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., m, 

 p. 354 (1905) ; Sclater & Stark, Birds of S. Afr., rv, p. 201 (1906). 



Francolinus afer, Sharpe's ed. Layard Birds of S. Afr., pp. 595, 854 

 (1875-84) ; Nicolls & Eglington, Sportsman in S. Afr., p. 101 

 (1892) ; Reichenow, Vogel Afrikas, i, p. 485 (1900-01). 



Local Names. " Patrijs " or " Berg Patrijs " of the Dutch ; " In- 

 tendele " or " Isakwatsha " of the Amaxosa (Stanford), also 

 applied to the Redwing ; " Khuale " of the Basutos (Murray). 



Description. The bird figured is an adult male. The female differs 

 only in having no spurs, and being slightly smaller. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe writes in the Ibis (1904) of a series sent 

 from Deelfontein, that j^oung birds can be distinguished by their 

 white throats and paler lower mandibles. The older the bird, 

 the more spotted it is beneath, and the throat is always more 

 closely barred by reason of the dusty margins of the feathers, 

 those of the lower-throat being especially scale-like. The pretty 

 grey edging to the feathers of the fore-neck seems to become 

 abraded during the breeding-season, and the orange and chestnut 

 markings on the fore-neck and chest are very apparent. In young 

 birds these colours are more subdued and the black cross-barring 

 is continued to the lower-throat, coupled with very distinct white 

 shaft-streaks. The plumage of the croAvn is blackish in young 

 birds, with margins of sandy rufous imparting a scaled, rather 

 than a streaked, appearance to the head. The progress from the 

 barred-breasted young bird to the thickly pearl-spotted adult is 

 gradually acquired, and apparently, to a great extent, by change 



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