62 GAME BIRDS OP THE PROTECTORATES 
made, but for the last four or five years it appears to have 
avoided the place, though it is plentiful at that time between 
Kapiti and Makindu, and also in the Rift Valley. In Kavirondo 
it is very plentiful in December, and again in July, and great 
numbers are caught by the natives, with the aid of decoys, in 
traps set at short intervals in old sheep tracks and native foot- 
paths. In November it is found in fair numbers on the coast, 
and even on the Island of Mombasa, but nowhere have I found 
it in such immense numbers as in Teita in December 1892, and 
on the Molo river in September 1896. In the latter place, 
during the whole of a march of about twelve miles they were 
getting up in front of me in threes and fours continuously. 
The nest consists merely of a few roots and dry grasses, and 
the eggs vary in number from five to nine. They also vary a 
good deal in the markings. 
Male . — Differs chiefly from the male of C. coturnix in 
having the general colour of the upper-parts, including the 
wing-coverts, blackish-brown ; the black pattern on the 
throat more strongly marked ; the general colour of the 
sides of the neck and the rest of the under-parts chestnut ; 
a large black patch in the middle of the chest and breast, 
and the feathers of the sides and flanks black down the middle. 
Length 7| inches, wing 8-7 inches, tail 1*8 inches, tarsus 
1 inch. 
Female . — Differs from the female of C. coturnix in the 
much darker colour of the upper-parts, in having the under- 
parts rufous -buff or dull chestnut washed with dusky on the 
chest, most of the feathers with a pale dark-edged shaft-stripe, 
and the feathers of the sides mottled and barred with black 
and buff. 
EXCALFACTORIA ADANSONI 
Excalfactoria adansoni. Verb. 
‘ Ogilvi e-Grant’s Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.’ Vol. XXII, page 255. 
* Sharpe’s Hand-List,’ Vol. I, page 32. ‘ Shelley’s Birds of 
Africa,’ Vol. I, page 178. ‘ Reichenow’s Vogel Afrikas,’ Vol. I, 
page 509. 
This beautiful little game bird is also very scarce and 
local. I first met with it at the Ravine Station in October 
1896, where it was undoubtedly breeding, as a female that 
