EAST AFRICA AND UGANDA FRANCOLINS 21 
margined with black and with black shaft-stripes ; breast and 
abdomen black. Iris brown ; naked skin of the face and 
throat blood-red ; bill and feet also blood-red. 
Length about 14| inches, wing 7 ’4 inches, tail 8*5 inches, 
tarsus 2*4 inches. 
Female. — Resembles the male, but differs in having the 
sides of the neck white, with a wide black band down the 
middle of the feathers ; some of the feathers of the breast 
and abdomen have narrow white shaft-stripes. 
Length about 18 J inches, wing 7 inches, tail 2*9 inches, 
tarsus 2*2 inches. 
PTERNISTES INFUSCATUS 
Pternistes infuscatus, Cabanis. 
‘ Ogilvie-Grant’s Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.,’ Vol. XXII, page 182, 
Plate VIII, fig. 2. ‘ Sharpe’s Hand-List,’ Vol. I, page 26. 
‘ Shelley’s Birds of Africa,’ Vol. I, page 179. 
Pternistes leucocepus infuscatus, Cabanis. 
‘ Reichenow’s Vogel Afrikas,’ Vol. I. page 455. 
This is the common so-called ‘ Spur-fowl.’ It is widely 
distributed, and is plentiful from the coast to Kikuyu and 
Mount Kenya. 
North of Kikuyu there appears to be a considerable break, 
as it does not reappear again in the Rift Valley until north of 
the Equator, on the lower reaches of the Molo River, and in 
the vicinity of Lake Hannington. 
Its call is harsh and grating, and it is particularly noisy 
after a shower of rain. During the heat of the day it lies 
very close in the shade of some thick covert, and is difficult to 
dislodge ; but in the early morning and evening, when found 
feeding in the open, its running powers are only equalled by 
those of the Guinea-Fowls, its action being very bold and 
erect. Near Nairobi it breeds in July and August, and again 
in October and November. 
Male and Female. — Top of head dark brown with dark 
grey margins ; streak above eye and cheeks pale buff ; the 
feathers under the eye wdth pale brown centres ; neck brown, 
with white edges ; shoulders brown with chestnut centres ; 
rest of the upperparts dark brown with white and buff shaft- 
