THE EASTERN OR CHINESE FRANCOLIN. 31 



a somewhat smaller bill. In F. phayrii the spurs seem general- 

 ly to be f in length, and it remains to ascertain if they ever ex- 

 ceed \ inch in the species inhabiting China and the Mauritius. 

 In plumage we can detect no further difference." Later he 

 added : " F. phayrii is smaller, with bill and legs conspicuous- 

 ly less robust." 



I have compared most carefully birds from Fokien and 

 Amoy, Siam, Mauritius and Pegu, and I am of opinion that, 

 though specimens vary as indicated by Blyth, these variations are 

 individual and not local, and that the races inhabiting all these 

 localities (I have seen none from Tonquin and Cochin-China) 

 are all perfectly identical.* 



The THREE species above dealt with are the only mem- 

 bers of the restricted genus Francolinus, but some 30 odd species 

 of Francolins, by some included under Francolinus, by others 

 separated under the genera, or subgenera, Pternises, Sclerop- 

 tera, Chcetopus and Clamator, are found in one place or another 

 all over Africa except at the extreme north ; and whether we 

 keep our three species generically distinct or not, there can be 

 no doubt that the Francolins are essentially African, and that 

 our species also are originally of African descent. 



* Conrad and Finsch, in their remarks ' ' Ueber eine Vogel sammlung aus Osta- 

 sien," aver that specimens from Saigon are identical with those of P. phayrii in the 

 British Museum and that these are "totally distinct" from the Chinese bird. I have 

 not seen birds from Saigon, but I have again most carefully compared a series of 

 Burmese birds with others from Fokien and Amoy, and I hold them to be identical. It 

 is a pity our authors did not point out some of the differences which constitute 

 the total distinctness. I can discover many and striking individual differences, but 

 none peculiar to either locality. 



