PHASIANIDa: FRANCOLINUS 205 



tricts (Ayres), Newcastle (Reidj ; Orange River Colony — Kroonstad 

 (Brit. Mus.) ; Transvaal — Vaal Eiver near Potchefstroom (Brit. 

 Mus.), Pretoria (Distant), near Barberton (GilfiUan). 



Habits. — ThS Cape Redwing is a somewhat locally distributed 

 bird, being plentiful in some districts and entirely absent in 

 others ; it is usually met with in small coveys of from five to eight 

 individuals, generally in secluded valleys, where there is plenty 

 of long grass and rushes ; Layard particularly mentions its 

 preference for the thick palmiet beds, which are so often found 

 along the rivers of the southern part of the Colony ; everyone 

 remarks that it lies very close and requires a very good dog 

 to flush it, and that after this has been done once it is almost 

 impossible to make it rise again, so much so that if carefully 

 marked down it can almost be caught in the hand. Its flight is 

 rapid and strong. The call-note, heard morning and evening, is 

 loud and harsh, and its food consists chiefly of small bulbous roots. 



The nest is usually well hidden in a depression in the ground 

 among long grass, generally not far from water ; the eggs, five 

 to eight in number, vary somewhat, but are usually a dark tawny, 

 spotted throughout with dark brown. Whitehead found a fresh 6gg 

 in December, and young birds a few weeks' old in June, so that they 

 appear to breed most of the year. 



In Natal Mr. Millar states that the Redwing is found on the 

 higher levels from about ten miles inland from the coast. The 

 coveys consist of two or three brace, and the birds sit very close 

 until flushed, when they fly to a considerable distance. Their call- 

 note, though resembling that of F. shelleyi, is not so distinct, and 

 can be readily distinguished. 



Mr. Wood tells me that this Prancolin is found in fair numbers 

 about East London, though at times, when there is much dry 

 weather about the breeding season, they become rather scarce. 

 They are particularly fond of the bulbs of Gladiolus and Watsonia, 

 and are generally to be found where these are growing in any 

 numbers. They nest in the long grass, in the vicinity of water 

 and lay from eight to ten eggs, pairing in early August. 



651. Francolinus gariepensis. Orange Biver Francolin. 



Franoolinus gariepensis, Smith, III. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pis. 83, 84 

 (1843) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 272 (1867) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1873, p. 282 ; 

 Sharpe, ed. Layard' s B. S. Afr. p. 599 (1884), [in part] ; Ayres, 

 Ibis, 1886, p. 292 ; Schaech, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 340 (1891) ; 

 Grant, Ibis, 1890, p. 347, 1892, p. 45 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 155 



