FBANCOLIN. 141 



of tlie Princes of Tuscany; and Savi, in 1829, wrote that he had 

 spoken with old hunters worthy of faith, who had assured him they 

 had killed Francolini in the neighbourhood of the park of Artimino 

 a little before they were entirely destroyed. It does not, however, 

 appear that the Francolin, according to the SStoria degli Uccelli,' vol. 

 iii., p. 14, was indigenous, but had been imported. The name of 

 Francolin proclaims the freedom of its life. Protected by vigorous 

 game laws, it is not improbable that it was imported into Tuscany 

 from Sicily. Doderlein says that the Dukes of Tuscany brought 

 several couple from Sicily, to acclimatize them in the hunting grounds 

 of Etruria. I do not know where Doderlein has got this information. 

 He attributes it, but erroneously, to Savi. Temminck says at first 

 that the Francolin was found in Naples, Sardinia, and Malta; but 

 later, in vol. iii. of the 'Manual,' p. 332, he corrects his first assertion, 

 saying expressly that it is not found either in Sardinia or the Nea- 

 politan States. In fact it has not been found in Sardinia, either by 

 Cetti, Cesa, Lord Lilford, or myself. According to Lord Lilford, it 

 was imported from Sicily into the Neapolitan territories, but not into 

 the royal preserves, where it has been since entirely destroyed. 

 Finally, it is not found in Malta; neither Schembri nor Wright 

 mention it, and as Lord Lilford observes, it is not probable that it 

 has ever existed there on account of the local conditions not being 

 favourable. Benoit says that in the southern parts of Sicily, and 

 probably in the plains which extend between Caltagirone and Terra- 

 nova, this bird exists, but in consequence of excessive hunting at all 

 times it becomes more rare from day to day." 



Doderlein says of this bird: — "If the Tetraonidce are indigenous 

 in the Alpine and German woods, the Francolin represents them in 

 the southern plains of Sicily. This very beautiful bird, years back, 

 lived in great abundance in the orchards and marshy plains of Sicily, 

 and particularly in the neighbourhood of Castelvetrano, of Partanna, 

 of Sciacca, of Licata, of Terranova, of Caltagirone, of Miselmeri, of 

 St. Guiseppe di Mortelli, and in similar localities; more than any- 

 where else in the Villa Favorita, on the sides of Monte Pellegrino, 

 introduced there in 1800 by King Ferdinand, who was passionately 

 fond of the chase. Such was the quantity in the island that the 

 Dukes of Tuscany took away several cou]3les, to acclimatize them in 

 the private hunting grounds of Etruria. They were, however, so 

 much persecuted on account of the excellency of their flesh and 

 their easy capture, that, owing to the abuse of shooters, who did not 

 even spare the female, they became almost entirely destroyed. And 

 so it was that in ten or twelve years from that time they were 



