QUAIL AND PARTRIDGES— FRANCOLINS 69 



exercise, but when on a long journey they fly straight ahead, giving a few beats of 

 their wings at a time and then gliding on quietly for a long distance, looking some- 

 what like storks. In walking they resemble a rook. The Egyptian vulture is 

 generally very tame, but when persecuted soon becomes wary. In certain localities 

 it builds in inaccessible spots, as on narrow ledges of rocks, or in caves; and 

 there are generally several nests near together. In Constantinople it nests on the 

 mosques, in India on almost any building, and in Egypt sometimes on the pyramids. 

 The nest is seldom placed on trees, although in Constantinople it has been seen in 

 cypresses. This vulture does not even use trees for perching, avoiding forests in 

 favour of mountains or rocky ravines and cliffs, and preferring barren country to 

 cultivated ground. At times it visits the seashore, and often follows caravans 

 through the desert for the sake of the carcases and other waste. The scavengvi - 

 vulture has a length of from 26 to 27 inches. The bare parts of the head 

 and neck are yellowish. In young birds the body is dark brown in colour, 

 but later on becomes white, with black wings, the primaries being whitish at 

 the base. 



Quail and Among the game-birds of south-western Asia are included the 



Partridges, quail and the partridge, the latter of which is a breeding bird in Asia 

 Minor. The chukar partridge (Caccabis chukar), distinguished by its white lores, 

 is met with all through Asia from Asia Minor to China ; while Arabia and the African 

 shore of the Red Sea form the home of the black-headed partridge (C. melanocejjhala), 

 which has a black crown and grey outer tail-feathers. The sisi partridges are 

 smaller birds, not quite the size of quails, without spurs on the legs, and with twelve 

 feathers in the tail. Among these, Bonham's sisi (Ammoperdix bonhami) ranges 

 from Arabia and Mesopotamia into north-western India, It inhabits the hills up 

 to the height of 7000 feet; and its colour resembles that of the ground to such 

 a degree that the bird has only to keep quiet to remain undiscovered. The 

 cocks have a band across the forehead continuous with a black eye-stripe, a 

 whitish chin, a grey throat, and the flanks chestnut barred with black; the 

 hens lacking the black and white markings on the head and the longitudinal 

 barrino- on the flanks. In another species, Hey's sisi (A. heyi), which inhabits 

 both shores of the Red Sea and Palestine, and is rather larger than a quail, 

 the hens are very similar in colour to those of the preceding species, but the cocks 

 are much paler, with a chestnut chin, and no black on the forehead or above 



the eyes. 



Althouo-h very partridge-like in appearance, francolins are more 



slender in build, with a thinner neck and longer beak. The throat 



and region round the eyes are often bare, and the legs of the cocks are generally 



armed with spurs. The typical species (Francolinus vulgaris), generally known 



as the black partridge in India, was formerly common in Sicily, where, however, it 



now appears to have been exterminated. It is rare in northern Africa, but from 



Cyprus it is met with more or less abundantly through Syria, Asia Minor, Caucasia, 



and Persia, to northern India. Its favourite haunts are swampy plains near rivers, 



where it hides among reeds or long grass, although it also occurs on cultivated land. 



The neighbourhood of water is indispensable to its existence. Hidden in bushes 



and hio-h o T ass, francolins wander about silently and alone in the daytime, now 



