PARTRIDGE. 277 



13— AFRICAN PARTRIDGE. 



Perdix Afra, Ind. Orn. ii. 648. 



Francolin Ourik'mas, Temm. Pig. Sf Gall. 8vo. iii. 327. 



Pearled Partridge, Gen. Syn. iv. 773. 15. A. 



LENGTH thirteen inches. Bill one inch and a quarter, brown, 

 the upper mandible much fornicated, and hangs over the lower; top 

 of the head deep brown, feathers margined, and striped with cream- 

 colour ; sides of the neck the same, inclined to ferruginous, tipped 

 with dusky ; over the eye an elegant stripe, minutely dotted black 

 and white ; the chin and fore part of the neck marked in the same 

 manner; upper part of the body brown, crossed with narrow, dusky, 

 cream-coloured lines, and marked down the shafts in the manner of 

 a Quail; breast and sides mottled with ferruginous, chestnut, dusky, 

 and dirty white, but the middle of the belly marked only with the 

 two last; quills dusky ; the tail deeper, crossed with white lines; 

 legs brown, with a short thick spur behind. 



One, supposed the female, has the head and neck in general 

 cream-colour, with undulated and curved marks of black ; over the 

 eye a ferruginous streak, continued on the side of the neck the whole 

 length ; chin and throat the same ; body above mottled chestnut and 

 black, in bars, with pale narrow streaks, as in the Common Quail : 

 beneath much the same, but paler, and more inclined to ferruginous, 

 streaked with yellow only on the sides ; the legs pale brown, and 

 without any spur behind. 



Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, where it is called Ourikinas, 

 and very common ; said to feed principally on bulbous roots, which 

 it digs up with the bill ; it lays as far as eighteen light olive-coloured 

 eggs, spotted with brown. It is a most beautiful bird, the descrip- 

 tion taken from a specimen at Sir Joseph Banks's. 



