Francolinus Hildebrandti and Pternistes Humboldti. 145 



impossible for F. Hildebrandti to be the young of F. Altumi, 

 in which case the former name would have priority. But it 

 is perfectly clear that the type F. Hildebrandti is a fully 

 adult female, and exactly similar to many others before me. 



Dr. Reichenow (J. f. O. 1890, p. 77) supplements Herr 

 Matschie's remarks as follows : — " The description of F. Hilde- 

 brandti is founded on a female specimen. Comparing this 

 specimen with an apparently equally adult female of F. Altumi 

 in the Berlin collection, the former is distinguished by having 

 the ground-colour of the upper parts rust-colour, while in the 

 latter it is olive-grey *. The underside in the former is 

 intense rust-brown, in the latter it is fawn-colour ; and the 

 former has uniform reddish-brown cheeks, which in the 

 latter are grey-brown with black streaks. The male of 

 F. Hildebrandti is still unknown, and may, like the male of 

 F. Altumi, have the underparts spotted with black," 



It will naturally strike anybody reading the above that 

 Dr. Reichenow, while denying the truth of my statement, 

 here records for the first time the extraordinary fact that the 

 male and female of his F. Altumi are totally different from one 

 another ! A fact unique among Francolins apparently causes 

 him no surprise, and is not thought worthy of previous record ! 

 The description given of his so-called adult female in the Berlin 

 Museum, which he compares with the type of F. Hildebrandti, 

 is so meagre that it is difficult to form a very definite opinion, 

 but I should gather from his remarks that his specimen 

 i3 probably an immature male with the sex wrongly deter- 

 mined. 



With regard to the identity of Pternistes Humboldti, Peters, 

 with P. leucoparams, Fischer and Reichenow, determined by 

 Capt. Shelley and myself and recorded by him in the above- 

 mentioned paper, Herr Matschie (J. f. O. 1889, p. 340) 

 remarks : — "P. leacopar&us is considerably nearer to P. nudi- 

 collis than to P. Humboldti. P. leucopareeus and P. nudi- 

 collis are both grey-brown above, with black shaft-streaks 

 without a trace of bands. P. Humboldti is yellowish brown 

 above, with light bands on the back and tail, which bands arc 

 edged with dark towards the ends of the feathers. P. leuco- 

 parceus differs from P. nudicollis by the white throat-streak 

 proceeding from the angle of the mouth, which in P. nudi- 



* All the specimens in the British Museum, both male (F. Altumi) and 

 female (F. Hildebrandti), have the upper parts exactly alike, the ground- 

 colour being rust-colour, shading into greyish olive towards the edges of 

 some of the feathers. 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. vii. 10 



