i8 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



marks ; underneath it is light buff, with dark shaftings 

 on the upper breast, which gradually become finer. 

 The legs are red, and the cock bird has a very sharp 

 pair of spurs. Its range is very much that of the northern 

 red-necked pheasant, and farther north it merges into 

 other nearly allied species. 



The crested francolin is found in thick bush or open 

 country usually near rivers and permanent water. It 

 is solitary in habit, and very wary and shy. When 

 disturbed it runs through the undergrowth at a great 

 pace, and when flushed flies low and fast, often rising 

 with a bush between itself and the intruder, and seldom 

 giving a fair shot in the open. After its flight it usually 

 settles in a tree or bush, whence it once more shoots 

 away when followed up. Its food consists of insects, 

 seeds, and bulbs. I have seldom noticed it in the lands 

 near my residence on the hunt for grain, though it 

 abounds in the bush close by. A good many young 

 birds may be seen fairly strong on the wing in February, 

 but I have observed male and female still paired in April. 

 The young birds remain in small coveys with their 

 mother until not quite full grown, when they separate. 

 I found a nest of this species on 26th April. It was 

 situated amid long grass surrounded by dense bush, 

 close to a small dry sandspruit. The nest was merely 

 a shallow hollow scraped out by the bird herself, and 

 there were tnree eggs in it. The latter were tawny white, 

 in colour, covered, especially towards the thicker end, 

 with very small pits of less size than pin-heads. One 

 egg was more thickly spotted than the other two. They 

 were rather conical in shape, the length being 1.72, 

 breadth at thick end 1.34, at middle 1.43, and at thin 

 end .8 inches. This species, too, roosts in trees or 

 bushes. 



