PHASIANID^; FRANCOLINUS 195 



respectively, the other, the Alectoropodes, in which the hallux is 

 raised above the level of the other toes. 



The latter suborder also contains only two families the Grouse 

 (Tetraonidae) and the Phasianidae ; all the South African Game 

 Birds are included in the last named family. 



Key of the Genera. 



A. Head, neck and throat normal, covered with 



feathers. 

 a. Tail of fourteen feathers ; birds of large size 



with strong bills and round wings Francolinus, p. 105. 



6. Tail of ten or twelve feathers very short, soft 



and concealed by the upper tail-coverts ; small 



birds with short beaks and pointed wings Coturnix, p. 220. 



c. Tail of eight feathers, short and concealed ; 



small birds with short beaks and rounded 



wings Excalfactoria,p.226. 



B. Head and neck covered with feathers, throat 



bare Piernistes, p. 214. 



C. Head and neck naked ; a bony outgrowth or 



helmet on the crown Numida, p. 227. 



D. Head and neck naked ; a tuft of curly feathers 



on the crown Guttera, p. 233. 



Family I. PHASIANID^. 



Nostrils never concealed by feathers ; tarsi partially or entirely 

 naked and often armed with spurs ; hallux jointed to the tarsus 

 above the level of the other toes. 



Genus I. FRANCOLINUS. 



Type. 

 Francolinus, Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool, xi, p. 316 



(1819) F. vulgaris. 



Bill rather stout and hooked ; nostrils with an over-hanging 

 operculum ; throat feathered ; wings somewhat rounded, first 

 primary about equal to the sixth or seventh, second and third 

 generally the longest ; tarsi naked, with spurs usually present, 

 especially in the males ; tail of fourteen feathers, short, about 

 half the length of the wing. 



