FRANCOLIN. 237 



Specific Characters. — Upper tail coverts and tail Beautifully 

 marked with black and white, (male,) or with broader bands of 

 grey and white, (female.) A red collar round the neck of the 

 male, bordered on the back below with another band of black 

 feathers and round white spots. Under tail coverts in both sexes 

 dark red. Length of male thirteen inches; carpus to tip six 

 inches ; tarsus two inches ; middle toe and claw one inch and 

 three quarters ; beak one inch and three tenths. Female eleven 

 inches and a half long. 



The Francolin inhabits the south of Europe, especially 

 Sicily, Malta, Cyprus, Sardinia, Naples, the Grecian 

 Archipelago, and Turkey. From thence it ranges 

 through the whole of Asia, and the vast prairies and 

 marshes of the north of Africa. With the exception, 

 however, of Sicily and the Grecian Archipelago, the 

 Francolin is becoming a rare bird in Europe. Savi 

 tells us that in the sixteenth century they were common, 

 as game birds, in Tuscany, and that special laws were 

 enacted by the Tuscan princes for their preservation. 

 Now, however, they are only recorded very rarely 

 there; Savi himself has never met with a specimen, 

 although he has known sportsmen who have killed 

 them in their youth. 



The Francolin lives, like other Partridges, in coveys, 

 and remains constant to the locality where it is bred. 

 It loves humid woods and marshy grounds, and, 

 according to Savi and other writers, it perches on 

 trees during the night. M. Malherbe, however, denies 

 that the Francolin perches. He says it lives solitarily 

 in Sicily, in moist plains near a brook, or in the 

 middle of a bed of rushes; that they keep much on 

 the ground, but will fly a good distance when hunted, 

 and their capture requires skill and perseverance. The 

 natural timidity of the bird makes it difficult to tame 

 in confinement. 



