TCB MIKM 



Francolinus chinensis, OsbecJc. 



Vernacular lTam©S.— [Hka (Burmese), Pegu; Nock-Kahtah, Siam.\ 



ITHIN our limits, the Eastern Francolin only 

 occurs, so far as I yet know, in the valley of the 

 Irrawaddy, extending about as far south as 

 Prome, and perhaps a little further down. We met 

 with it nowhere in Tenasserim, and it is un- 

 known, Ramsay tells us, in the plains of the 

 Tonghoo district, though abundant just out- 

 side our boundary in the Karenee Hills. 



Out of India, it occurs in Southern China, in the provinces 

 of Fokien, Quang-tung, Quang-si and Yunan, in the Island 

 of Hainan, in Tonquin, Cochin-China, Siam and Independent 

 Burma. Strange to say, it is, or was, also common in Mauritius, 

 where it must, however, have been introduced. 



I have never seen this bird alive, and can find but little on 

 record about its habits, food, and the like. In our Pegu paper 

 Mr. Oates remarks : — 



" It frequents open places in forests, scrubby jungle, and waste 

 land ; a few may be flushed occasionally in a paddy field after 

 harvest, but, as a rule, it does not stay in the open country. It 

 has a call which is difficult to syllablize ; but in its general 

 character it resembles that of F. vulgaris, as noted in Jerdon. 

 It is particularly vociferous in June and July, at which time 

 it breeds. 



" It does not keep in flocks or coveys, though many are often 

 found in the same neighbourhood. The call is uttered from a 

 stump, and occasionally from the branch of a tree, as much as 

 ten feet from the ground." 



" In the Karenee Hills," says Lieutenant Wardlaw Ramsay, 

 " it frequents the sides of rocky hills and other inaccessible places. 

 Its whereabouts may always be known by its extraordinary 

 call, which it is continually uttering, and which may be rendered 

 on paper by the syllables kuk, kuk, kuich } kd-kd? 



