FRA.NCOLINUS. 135 



Key to the Species. 



a. Quills transversely barred or spotted with 



butt' on both web.?. 



a'. Scapulars with a conspicuous buff .sub- 

 marginal band. 

 a". A chestnut collar in males and nuchal 



patch in females F. vulyaris, p. 135. 



b". No chestnut on neck F. pictus, p. 137. 



b' . No submarginal buff band on scapulars. . F. chinensis, p. 138. 



b. Quills without transversely elongate spots 



or bars. 



c. Breast buff, with narrow black cross-bars. F. pondicerianus, p. 139. 

 d' . Breast brown, with broad longitudinal 



white stripes F. t/ularis, p. 141. 



1372. Francolinus vulgaris. The Black Partridge or Common 

 Francolin. 



Tetrao francolinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 275 (1766). 



Francolinus vulgaris, Steph. in Shanes Gen. ZooL xi, p. 319 (1819) ; 



Blyth, Cat. p. 251 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 558 ; Blanford, J. A. S. B. 



xxxvi, pt. 2, p. 200; xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 190; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. 



xxx vii, pt. 2, p. 68; xli, pt. 2, p. 249; Hume, S. F. i, p. 226 ; 



Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. 2, p. 83 ; Butler $ Hume, & F. iv, 



p. 5; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 225; Hume, Cat. no. 818; Scully, S. I. 



viii, p. 348 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 9, pi. ; Reid, S. F. x, 



p. 62 ; Murdoch, ibid. p. 1C8 : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 307 ; Humt, 



S. F. xi, p. 304 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 175 ; Oates in Humes 



N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 428. 



Francolinus melanonotus, Hume, S. F. xi, p. 305. 

 Francolinus francoliuus, Oyilvie Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 38 ; id. Cat. 



B. M. xxii, p. 132. 



Kala-titar, H. : Kais-titar, $ , Nepal ; Tetra, Garhwal ; Vrembi, 

 Manipur. 



Coloration. Male. Crown blackish brown, the feathers broadly 

 edged with pale brown and on the nape with white ; sides of head, 

 with the chin and throat, black, except an elongate white patuli 

 running back from beneath each eye and including the ear-coverts ; 

 a broad chestnut collar all round the neck; behind this the upper 

 back and the sides of the breast are black, the feathers with a 

 large white spot on each web ; scapulars, interscapulars, tertiaries, 

 and wing-coverts brown ; each feather with a submarginal tawny 

 or buff band, nearly or quite continuous, and pale edges ; pri- 

 maries and secondaries dark brown, with tawny-buff transverse 

 spots on both webs, forming imperfect bars ; lower back, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers black with narrow white bars, 

 terminal third of outer tail-feathers unbarred black ; breast and 

 upper abdomen pure black in old birds ; flanks spotted white like 

 sides of the breast, but the two- white spots on each feather 

 coalesce posteriorly ; lower abdomen and thigh-coverts light 

 chestnut tipped with white ; vent and under tail-coverts pure 

 dark chestnut. 



