445 
Expedition to the Zambesi River. 
236. Cgturnix delegorguei Deleg. 
By no means common. Found on open waste land,, 
especially in old marpela-fields. 
Adult S (Kafue river, Jan. 5,1898). Total length (measured 
in the flesh) 7*26 inches, wing 3*6. Iris brown; legs and feet 
flesh-colour. 
Adult $ (Chicowa, Oct. 11,1898). Total length (measured 
in the flesh) 8*65 inches, wing 3’8. Iris hazel; legs and feet 
flesh-colour. 
237. Pternistes swainsoni (Smith). 
The most numerous of the Francolins on the Zambesi, and 
found on the higher reaches from Zumbo onward, being 
especially plentiful in the neighbourhood of that place. This 
species frequents flat, dusty ground, overgrown with bushes 
of the cactus plant skirting the river. It is never to be found 
very far away from water, each flock having its own particular 
drinking-spot, which is visited every morning and evening as 
regular as clockwork. In the evening of Dec. 20 we pitched 
our tent for the night at a spot where a number of these 
birds were seen. Towards nightfall they became very noisy, 
constantly running to the crest of the little plateau above 
our camp to see if we had left, and uttering all the time dis¬ 
cordant cries, that resembled those of captured fowls. We 
had evidently come where the flock was accustomed to seek 
the river's edge. 
An immature female, killed at the end of December, has 
no chestnut margins to the feathers of the breast and belly, 
while the secondaries are very much barred and mottled with 
black. 
During the pairing-season the males become very cla¬ 
morous, giving vent to cries like those of a cock Pheasant 
as it flies to roost; at other times deep, hoarse croaks that 
sound very loud in the echoing valleys of the Zambesi. On 
December 23 we found a nest containing five eggs. It was 
among weeds, and in a hollow scraped by the bird itself, 
and lined with dead leaves. 
