Francolinus Altumi ilie Male o/F. Ilildebraudti. 145 



XV. — Francolinus Altumi, Fischer and Reichenow, is the 

 Male of F. Hildebrandti, Cahanis. By W. R. Ogilvie 

 Grant. 



The statement made in the above heading would at first seem 

 almost incredible to any one who knows the two forms to 

 whicli those names have been given ; yet the evidence I shall 

 put before my readers leaves no room for doubt that my asser- 

 tion is correct. 



Francolinus Hildebrandti was described and figured by 

 Cabanis (J. f. O. 1878, p. 243, pi. iv. fig. 2) from a single 

 female specimen obtained at Taita, which was armed on the 

 right leg with a single sliarp spur. The species is charac- 

 terized by being dull brick-red on the under surface and 

 having some of the feathers of the lower breast and belly 

 margined with pale buff spots, while the feathers of the upper 

 surface (except those of the mantle, which are more strongly 

 vermicuiated with black and ivhite) are very finely vermicu- 

 lated with reddish brown and black, and most have a narrow 

 rufous shaft-streak. 



Francolinus Altumi was described and figured by Fischer 

 and Reichenow (J. f. O. 1884, p. 179, pi. ii.) from specimens 

 obtained in Massailand, and referred by them to the group of 

 Francolins including F. Rueppelli and F. Clappertoni, though 

 really much more closely allied to F. icterorhynchus from 

 Central Africa and F. natalensis from Natal. 



It is characterized by having the feathers of the breast and 

 belly white, with a subterminal, heart-shaped, black spot, 

 while the upper surface and under tail-coverts are the same as 

 in F. Ilildehrandti. 



Through Mr. H. C. V. Hunter's generous gift to the Natu- 

 ral-History Museum of the birds collected by him in Massai- 

 land our National Collection now contains a good series of 

 each of the above so-called species. On examining the series 

 of F. Hildebrandti^ which was specially interesting to me as 

 representing a species new to the collection, I noted the facts 

 that all the specimens were sexed female and that all had at 

 least a pair of sharp spurs, while in two examples a second 

 and additional pair of spurs were fairly developed ; at the 

 same time I expressed an opinion that F. Hildebrandti would 

 certainly prove to be the female of some other species. Not 

 being then engaged in working at the Francolins, 1 deter- 

 mined to let the matter rest till I should have an opportunity 

 of speaking to Mr. Hunter and hearing his opinion on the 



Antu iSc Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol, iv. 10 



