PTERNISTES HUMBOLDTI. 



HUMBOLDT'S FRANCOLIN. 



(Plate 27.) 



Francolinus humboldtii, Peters, M.B. Akad. Wissensoh. Berlin, 1854, 

 p. 134. 



Pternistes humboldti, Sharpe's ed. Layard Birds of S. Afr., p. 589 (1875- 

 84) ; OgUvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxn, p. 176 (1893) ; 

 Reichenow, Vogel Afrikas, i, p. 462 ; Sclater, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., m, 

 p. 354 (1905) ; Sclater & Stark, Birds of S. Afr., iv, p. 216 (1906). 



Descbiption. The bird figured is a male. The female differs in 

 having the sides of the neck white with a wide black band down 

 the middle of the feathers. The breast- and abdomen-feathers 

 have narrower white shaft-stripes. Length about 17 in., the 

 female being about an inch shorter. 



The young bird has the cheeks and sides of the face white with 

 black shaft-stripes, and there is more white on the breast and 

 abdomen. 



DiSTRiBTJTioN. Mr. Sclater states in the Fauna of S. Africa, Vol. iv, 

 that this species is spread over Mashonaland and Portuguese 

 East Africa northward through Nyassaland and German and 

 British East Africa as far as the River Tana. It is also to be 

 found near SaUsbury. 



In British East Africa Mr. Jackson writes that it is apparently 

 confined to the Coast region. It is found in Witu, on the out- 

 skirts of the forest, and is plentiful in the bush-coimtry on the 

 banks of the lower Tana. 



It is stated in the Fauna of S. Africa, Vol. rv., that Francis 

 found this bird plentiful and common near Inhambane ; 

 that it frequents thick scrubby and inaccessible spots during 

 the day, but is always to be found in the Kaffir gardens early 

 in the morning and late in the evening. On perceiving any 

 one, it immediately runs off into the scrub or other thick 



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