210 PHASIANID^J FKANCOLINUS 



Young birds have the mantle similar to the rest of the upper 

 parts ; some of the scapulars blotched with black at the extremities, 

 and the under parts brownish white, finely veriniculated with black ; 

 the bill is dark purple and legs paler than in the adult. 



Distribution. The Eed- billed Francolin was first obtained by 

 Sir James Alexander in the early part of the last century in 

 Great Namaqualand ; it is spread all over German South-west 

 Africa as far as southern Angola, and extends eastwards throughout 

 the Northern Kalahari to the upper waters of the Limpopo and 

 Marico Eivers in the North-west Transvaal. 



The following are localities : Transvaal Limpopo and Marico 

 Eivers (Nicolls and Eglington) ; Bechuan aland north of Molopo 

 (Bryden), Notwani Eiver (Nicolls and Eglington), Botletli Eiver 

 (Bryden) ; German South-west Africa Great Fish Eiver in Great 

 Namaqualand (Alexander, type), Otjimbinque and Walvisch Bay 

 (Andersson in Bt. and S. A. Mus.). 



Habits. This bird, which replaces the so-called Pheasant of the 

 Colony in German South-west Africa and the Kalahari is found in 

 coveys of from ten to fourteen individuals usually in very thick bush 

 and never far from water; it is one of the most difficult of the 

 Francolins to flush, and when this is done, it almost invariably takes 

 refuge among the thickest branches of a tree or bush, where it 

 remains motionless and concealed till the danger is past. 



It is a very swift runner, and is not shy, being seen not in- 

 frequently among Native kraals picking up fallen grain. 



It feeds early in the morning and late in the evening on seeds, 

 berries and insects ; its voice is a " succession of hysterical laughs, 

 at first slow, but increasing in rapidity and strength till suddenly 

 they cease." The eggs are laid on the ground, in a slight hollow 

 under the shelter of a bush. Fleck found one nest with ten, another 

 with only four eggs ; in the latter case incubation was almost com- 

 pleted. The eggs are stated by Layard to be rather peculiarly 

 shaped, being truncated at both ends, and the shell being very 

 thick, dense and heavy ; the colour is a pale creamy white and the 

 measurements 1-6 x I'l. 



655. ' Francolinus capensis. Noisy Francolin or Cape Pheasant. 



Tetrao capensis, Gnielin, Syst. Nat. i, p. 759 (1788). 



Perdix clamator, Temm. Pig. et Gall, iii, pp. 298, 717 (1815). 



Perdix capensis, Burchell, Travels i, p. 270 (1822) ; Grill, K. Vet. 



ATfad. Hand!, ii, no. 10, p. 52 (1858). 

 Francolinus clamator, Layard, B, S. Afr. p. 268 (1867) ; Sharpe, ed 



