Coloration of Indian Black Francolin (F. f£. asiae) 
"Male -- Crown to nape sandy or rufous brown, the feathers centered 
dark brown, supercilium and feathers around eye black; broad white band 
from lower lores, cheeks and ear coverts white; chin, throat and broad 
patch below ear coverts running up to nape, black; feathers of nape showing 
little black and white mottling. Broad chestnut collar all round neck; 
behind collar, back and sides black, each feather with a submarginal black- 
edged band of buff or sandy rufous, the transition from black upper back 
being very gradual. Lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts and tail feathers 
with narrow white or fulvous-white bars; outer tail feathers with terminal 
third unbarred. Below, breast is black, unspotted in very old males in 
center, but with oval white spots (or streaks) on sides; flanks black with 
larger, longer oval white spots, sometimes becoming longitudinal bars on 
the posterior flanks and generally with narrow brown fringes: lower breast 
and thigh coverts black to blackish brown with very large white spots or 
bars; center of abdomen and vent light chestnut with whitish bars, under 
tail-coverts chestnut, rarely having a few bars of white or fulvous. Under 
wing-coverts and axillaries mottled fulvous and dark brown." We have 
found that young birds have more white spots on breast and flanks than do 
older birds. 

"Iris, hazel-brown to dark brown. Bill black or dark horny brown, 
the tip of mandible whitish; legs and feet brown to orange red or brick 
red, always brighter and redder during breeding season. Claws black or 
horny brown; spurs blunt, dark horny, often paler at tip. 
"Female ~- Above similar to male but paler and duller; the black and 
white cheeks and supercilia replaced by dull pale buff; ear coverts brown 
or buffy brown and cheeks more or less speckled with brown. The chestnut 
collar replaced by a duller nutchal patch sometimes freckled or slightly 
barred with brown. Rump, upper tail-coverts and central tail feathers 
dull, pale brown with narrow, wavy bars of pale buff edged with black; 
outer tail feathers as in male. 
“Below, chin, throat and foreneck white or buffy white, sometimes 
with rufescent tinge, with wavy, arrow-shaped bars, narrowest on neck and 
upper breast, and gradually becoming broader on the posterior flanks and 
lower breast, and again fewer and narrower on the abdomen where they 
occasionally disappear altogether. Ventral region pale, dull chestnut, 
sometimes with faint brown bars and sometimes with whitish tips; under 
tail-coverts ‘chestnut. 
"Soft parts as in male but legs never as red as male in breeding 
season. The bill is paler, more a horny brown than black and the base 
and gonys paler still." Females are usually without or with only rudi- 
mentary spurs though one bird from near Delhi possessed a well-developed 
spur on one leg. 
Young males may be recognized by flecks of black on breast and flank 
feathers at about three months of age. 
