from the higher Mountains of Nyika. 483 



the feathers are narrowly tipped with brownish black ; from 

 these bands the pure white chin and throat are divided and 

 bordered by a wide^ dull, rust-coloured band, commencing 

 at the angles of the gape; the fore part of the neck is 

 mostly white, only a few of the lowest feathers being barred 

 with black ; the chest and sides of the breast mostly dark 

 chestnut with pale buff shafts ; the middle of the breast and 

 belly nearly uniform buff, with a few blackish-brown marks 

 on the outer feathers. The tarsus is considerably longer 

 (1*9 as compared with about 1*7 inch) . In other respects the 

 plumage is very similar to that of F. levaillanti. 



Total length 11 inches, wing 6*5, tail 2*75, tarsus 1-9. 



The type specimen, a male from Cheni-Cheni mountain, 

 in Nyika, W, of Lake Nyasa, was obtained at an altitude of 

 7400 feet, on the 27th June, 1895. 



Mr. Richard Crawshay has kindly furnished me with the 

 following note on this species : — 



" This new species of Francolin, from British Central 

 Africa, inhabits the higher mountains of Nyika, which in 

 places attain an altitude of very nearly 8000 feet. 



"A single specimen only was obtained, and this I shot on 

 Cheni-Cheni mountain, quite on the top, at 7400 feet : it is 

 a male, one of a covey of three birds seen at the time. 



"Nowhere else in British Central Africa have I come 

 across this bird : it is only found, apparently, at high 

 altitudes, on open grass-land where the grass is no longer 

 than on the Sussex Downs, and away from all human haunts 

 and cultivation. 



"So far as I am aware, there is no other country in 

 British Central Africa which exactly resembles the Nyika 

 plateau, to the west of Lake Nyasa : it is quite unique. 

 It is high, bare grass-land, a good deal broken by valleys 

 and smooth-faced gorges, the upper reaches of which are 

 quite bare, the grass being only ankle-high, the soil a light 

 loam. For a great part of the year it is shrouded in mist or 

 misty rain : its climate, therefore, is very moist and always 

 cool, and sometimes positively cold, with, in the cold season, 

 bitter frosts at night. 



