124 



throat, except where crossed by the chestnut collar, and breast deep black ; flanks black, very boldly 

 spotted with white; abdomen rufous, varied and barred with dull white; under tail-coverts rich chest- 

 nut-red, tipped with white ; bill black ; iris hazel-brown ; legs dull reddish orange. Total length about 

 14 inches, culmen l - 0, wing 69, tail 4"1, tarsus 2"2. 



Adult Female (Arpasa valley, Anatolia, January) . Crown, nape, and upper parts generally much duller than 

 in the male ; the hind neck is chestnut-red, but this colour is not continued round the neck ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts dark brown, irregularly vermiculated or marbled with light brown, and barred with 

 brownish white ; tail as in the male, but rather more irregularly barred, and slightly marbled with 

 brown ; sides of the head white, marked with blackish ; a broad streak over the eye dull white ; chin 

 and upper throat pure white ; rest of the underparts white, washed with ochreous, and broadly barred 

 or blotched with blackish ; under tail-coverts chestnut-red, marked with pale brown, and black towards 

 the tip. Culmen 095, wing 6 - 8, tail 4 - 0, tarsus 2'0. 



Obs. I cannot find any difference in specimens from India and Asia Minor, except in size, the former being 

 rather smaller than the latter ; but the single example in Lord Lilford's collection from Sicily is unusually 

 small, even much less than Indian specimens. The average measurements of adult males are as follows, 

 viz. : — from Anatolia, wing 6'9, tail 4'0, tarsus 215 ; from Sindh, wing 6 - 2, tail 4 - 0, tarsus 2 - l ; and 

 from Sicily, wing 5 - 4, tail 3"55, tarsus T8. 



The Francolin inhabits Asia Minor, Palestine, the island of Cyprus, ranging eastward into India. 

 Now no longer found anywhere in Europe proper, except in the island of Cyprus, where it is 

 common, it appears still to be very generally distributed in Asia Minor, where, Dr. Kruper says, 

 it is resident, and is not uncommon in the swampy portions in the southern districts. It never 

 occurs in the immediate vicinity of Smyrna, but is met with at Scala Nova, near Old Ephesus. 

 Mr. C. G. Danford informs me, " it appears to be fast disappearing in Asia Minor. In Smyrna 

 it used to be found in the marshes of the Hermus, and in the neighbourhood of Ephesus, but is 

 now, I believe, extinct in both these localities. We first met with it (January 1874) in the 

 rushy tracts on the banks of the Arpasa, a tributary of the Meander. There it was by no 

 means common. And higher up the country, in the extensive marshes near the ruins of 

 Hierapolis, where it is said to have been formerly abundant, it now seems no longer to exist. 

 At the mouth of the Meander, near the village of Domahtea, we again found Francolins, and 

 killed, by dint of a good deal of work among the rushes and oleander bushes, about ten brace. 

 On the sea-coast plains, more to the south-east, it is not so scarce, being tolerably common near 

 Adalia, and reported still more plentiful in other districts." It is found in Palestine, and is, 

 Canon Tristram writes (Ibis, 1868, p. 212), "very abundant on the plain of Gennesaret, where 

 the coveys conceal themselves among the thickets of jujubes, especially near water. We also 

 frequently heard and sometimes saw it on the plains of Acre and Huleh, and on the lower 

 grounds of Esdraelon, near the Jordan. But it never voluntarily leaves its cover. Its flight is 

 heavy, rather like that of a Grouse ; and it is perhaps the easiest of all game-birds to shoot on 

 the wing. There were seldom more than three or four together ; but I have frequently found 

 half a dozen parties within call of each other. The cock bird begins to call from the middle of 

 a grass-field at the early dawn ; and the cry is taken up and answered on all sides in an instant. 

 It is a very peculiar note, never forgotten when once heard, something like chuck, chuck, tee- 



