THE GAME BIRDS OF CAPE COLONY. 311 



abounded, and for about two hours and a half we 

 had capital shooting. It is true that the pheasants 

 occasionally ran clean out of view, but on the other 

 hand quite as many lay like stones, and after a few 

 miles walking, our three guns had amassed a bag of 

 nine brace of pheasants and partridges, besides a 

 couple of the colonial wild duck {Anas flavirostris) , 

 called by the Boers the geelbec (yellow bill) . I may 

 add that the shooting was much more easy than if 

 English partridges had been our game. We returned 

 to the farmhouse, needless to state, in a contented 

 frame of mind, and with enormous appetites. The 

 francolins and the bustards of the Cape are good 

 table birds, but they have, in common with most of 

 the game of Africa, a certain dryness which renders 

 them not quite such delicious eating as the game 

 birds of our own temperate climate. Nevertheless, 

 they are, as a rule, undeniably good eating, and the 

 great kori bustard, which puts on fat in a quite 

 amazing manner, is, in particular, fitted to grace the 

 most princely banquet, or to satisfy the most exigent 

 appetite. 



The red-necked francolin {Francolinus nudicollis), 

 also called "pheasant," is of much the same size 

 as Francolinus clamator. Its body is brown, the back 

 feathers having black centres ; the chest feathers are 

 a lighter brown, having the same black marking ; 

 and the neck feathers are white, having broad black 

 stripes. The breast, stomach, and flank feathers 

 are of a darker brown, and have white stripes. The 

 front of the throat is bare and of a bright red colour 

 (from whence the bird, I suppose, takes its name), 

 and the space round the eyes, and the chin, are also 

 bare and bright red in colour. I shot a few of this, 



