ORD. RASORES. 



FAM. TFTRAONIDm. 



GEN. FRANCOLINUS. 



PLATE XLIL 



FRANCOLINUS HARDWICKII— FEMALE. 



FEMALE PAINTED SPUR-FOWL. 



Synon. — Perdix benulasa, Val., P. Hardwickii, Gray, Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. F. nivostis, 

 Ad. Delessert, Curria Partridge* LB,tha.m — Jitta Kodee, Teloogoo. 



The male of this very handsome' Spur-fowl has been figured twice, firstly 

 by Gray in Hardwicke's Illustrations of Indian Zoology, and afterwards by Delessert 

 in the Magasin de Zoologie — but the hen-bird has, I believe, not yet been described. 

 Mr. Blyth I see gives benulasa Val. as the prior specific appellation. 



In Southei'n India I have only found it in the Jungles of the Eastern Ghats, 

 and in some of the spurs that jut out from the Ghats, both above and below. M. 

 Delessert got it from the neighbourhood of Pondicherry. I got many specimens from 

 the Ghats inland from Nellore, and I have been told that it is found near Bellary, 

 Cuddapah and Hydrabad. Further north I never saw it from Goomsoor, and it is 

 unknown in Bengal and the Himalayas. General Hardwicke procured it in the North 

 West of India I believe. 



It associates in small flocks, keeping to the low shrubs and brushwood, and 

 seeking its food among fallen leaves and low herbage. I kept several individuals of 

 this species alive for some time, and found that it is a most pugnacious and quarrel- 

 some bird. It carries its tail erect like the Jungle fowl, to which the natives invaria- 

 bly assert its affinity, as well as that of F. spadiceus ; and Mr. Blyth places them 

 in his genus Gallo perdix, retaining Francolinus for the common Partridge of India, 

 F. ponticerianus, and the Black Partridge of Bengal, F. communis, which are much 

 more allied to Partridges, and in which the hens are not usually spurred as in Gallo 

 perdiv. 



