324 



AFRICAN FRANCOLIN. 



This species has the upper part of its head 

 and the occiput clothed with black feathers, with 

 reddish edges : a narrow red band, sprinkled 

 with black, extends down each side of the neck, 

 and another of white, whose feathers are tipped 

 with black, runs parallel with the first, and ter- 

 minates at the lower part of the neck, where it 

 joins a third, arising from beneath the eyes : the 

 throat is white, spotted with black : the breast is 

 yellow-red, varied with grey-blue : the feathers of 

 the upper parts of the body are of a deep grey, 

 each varied with a spot of black, and rufous zigzag 

 lines: the wing-coverts are brighter ash, with 

 transverse black bars : the shafts of all the feathers 

 of the upper parts of the body, as well as of the 

 wing-quills, are white : the quills are brown, with 

 a zigzag stripe extending the whole length of the 

 outer web : the feathers on the sides of the body 

 and lateral parts of the breast are shaded with 

 grey-blue, and have each a large spot of chesnut- 

 red near their middle, and a few are sprinkled 

 with oval white marks, which are most numerous 

 on the belly, where they approach each other : the 

 tail is black, striped with transverse undulated 

 lines of a bright rufous : the tarsi of the male are 

 armed with a very sharp spur, and are of a yellow- 

 brown, as are also the toes : the beak is brown : 

 the female has a hard tubercle in place of the 

 spur, and in plumage exactly resembles the male : 

 its length is about one foot. 



Common in the country of the Hottentots : its 

 principal food consists of various species of bulbous 



