Species 
F. francolinus 
melanonotus 
F. pictus (three 
subspecies) 
F,. pintadeanus 
(two subspecies) 
F. pondicerianus 
mecranensis 
F. pondicerianus 
interpositus 
F._pondicerianus 
pondicerianus 
F. gularis 
Common Name 
Assam black francolin 
Painted francolin 
Chinese francolin 
Makran gray francolin 
Northern gray 
francolin 
Southern gray 
francolin 
Swamp francolin 
Introductions 
Distribution 
Eastern Nepal, through Assam 
and East Pakistan south to 
Orissa in India 
Central and southern India 
and Ceylon 
Manipur east to Indo-China 
and southern China 
Eastern Arabia (Muscat), 
southern Iran and eastern 
and southern Afghanistan, 
Baluchistan, the Northwest 
Frontier, and south almost 
to the Indus River in south- 
ern West Pakistan 
West Pakistan in the Indus 
Valley and from the Sind or 
Thar desert east and south 
of the Himalayas to southern 
Nepal and south to Bihar, 
West Bengal, and Central India 
through Rajasthan and Gujarat 
to Poona and the Godavari 
River 
South of the range of inter- 
positus in India to north- 
western Ceylon 
Southern Nepal and northern 
India east to Assam and East 
Pakistan 
Unlike the pheasants, few attempts have been recorded to acclimatize 
francolins to new areas or to raise them in captivity. The southern gray 
francolin (F. p. pondicerianus) has been successfully introduced into the 
Andamans, Amerante, Mauritius and Rodriquez Islands. F. pintadeanus, the 
Chinese francolin, has taken in Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, the Andamans 
and Luzon Islands, though in the Philippines it has never become widely 
established, 
The Erckel's francolin (F. erckelii), from the high plateau country 
of Ethiopia, has received some attention as a game bird for release on 
shooting preserves in the western United States but to date, has shown but 
little reproductive success where liberated. 
3 
