208 PHASIANID^ FEANCOLINUS 



has a loud cry, heard in early morning and shortly after sundown, as 

 follows : " O-ti-pidlib, 0-ti-pidlid, 0-ti-pidlib." 



653. Francolinus shelleyi. Shelley's FrancoUn. 



Franoolinus gariepensis (nee Smith) Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 361 [Uinfuli 



Elver] ; Butler, Feilden, and Beid, Zool. 1882, p. 338. 

 Francolinus shelleyi, Grant, Ibis, 1890, p. 348, 1892, p. 4.5 ; id. Cat. 



B. M. xxii, p. 157, pi. 6 (1893) ; id. Game Birds, i, p. 121 (1896) ; 



Schaech, Meif. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 847 (1891) ; Shelley, B. Afr. 



i, p. 181 (1896) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 262 ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. 



i, p. 490 (1901). 

 Francolinus levaillanti, Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 161 (1899). 

 " Thorn Eed-wing " of Natalians ; "Isendele" of the Zulus 



(Millar). 



Description.—M.uch. resembling F. gariepensis on the upper 

 surface but rather darker and blacker; below the throat is white 

 surrounded by the usual black line, usually with a patch of black 

 and white feathers on the crop ; the chest and flanks are chestnut, 

 most of the feathers with paler inner webs barred with black ; the 

 centre of the breast is mottled black and white, the black in V- 

 shaped markings, tending to form transverse bars ; thighs, vent and 

 under tail- coverts pale buff irregularly barred with darker. 



Iris dark brown, bill grey, base of lower mandible yellow, legs 

 yellow ; a sharp tarsal spur. 



Length about 12-0 ; wing 6-8 ; tail 3-10; tarsus 1-4; culmen 1-2. 



The female is like the male, but has no spur, or only a blunt 

 tubercle. 



Distribution. — Shelley's Pranoolin replaces the Orange Eiver 

 Prancolin on the eastern side of our region, extending from Natal to 

 Mashonaland ; north of the Zambesi it has been found in Nyasa- 

 land and German East Africa, as far north as Zanzibar. 



The following are recorded localities : Natal — near Durban, 

 June (Millar), near Colenso, November (Eeid); Swaziland (Buckley); 

 Ehodesia — Umfuli Eiver, September, whence came the type 

 (Ayres), Chiromwe on the Zambesi (Stoehr in S. A. Mus.) ; Portu- 

 guese Bast Africa — Inhambane (Peters). 



Habits. — Mr. Millar informs me that this bird is generally 

 distributed throughout Natal, frequenting the coast-lands as well as 

 the "thorns" up country; hke most other Prancolins it calls at 

 dawn and late at night with a clear and distinct whistle. The 



