ANOTHER RARE FOREST FRANCOLIN 199 
ANOTHER RARE FOREST FRANCOLIN 
Francolinus nahani, Dubois 
(Type locality — Ituri Forest, Congo) 
By Dr. V. G. L. van Someren 
This rare Forest Francolin was described by Dubois, in 
1905, from a single immature specimen, which has been sent 
home in a batch of birds from the Ituri Forest, Belgian Congo. 
Although this bird was obviously young, yet it possessed 
such striking differences from any of the known and described 
species of Francolin that Dubois had no hesitation in de- 
scribing it as a new species, and thus being first in the field 
with one of the most interesting ornithological discoveries 
from Africa within recent years. 
From 1905 to 1913 nothing further was heard of this 
bird until specimens were sent to me by my collectors, along 
with that other rare Francolin, F. 1. schubotzi, from the Mabira 
Forest, Uganda. 
This forest is, roughly, 220 miles east, in a straight line, 
from the Ituri Forest. This fact is extremely interesting, 
for this bird is purely a forest species, and there are no large 
forests in the intervening country. 
One point of dissimilarity between the Mabira birds and 
that from the Ituri is in the colour of the legs and bill : these 
were described as being grey, whereas in all my specimens 
these parts are crimson. This discrepancy may be accounted 
for by the fact that the colour of the legs fades after death ; 
but in no single specimen in my collection are the legs grey, 
but rather a brownish yellow. 
The sexes are alike. 
Very little is known regarding the habits. My collectors 
report that these birds go in pairs and are frequently seen 
with guinea-fowl, and indeed they mistook these birds for young 
