No unusual demand for water per se has been noted. Dew is heavy 
over much of the range, and,with metabolic moisture from succulent plants, 
it appears to provide the water needed over considerable periods of time, 
both in captivity and in the wild. 
In the semi-desert habitats of Iraq and West Pakistan the greatest 
concentrations of black francolins are usually found in the rather open, 
though not wet, riverain jungles of tamarisk, other shrubs, grasses, and 
weeds, in the adjacent croplands, and in oases of date palms. 
As precipitation increases the black francolins spread further out 
into grasslands, scrub, or croplands. Typical cover here includes low 
lying fields of wheat, barley, rice, mustard, various legumes, millet, 
sorghum, maize, and cotton with adjacent grassy, weedy, or shrubby patches. 
The most attractive of all crops in northern India seems to be sugarcane. 
It is rare that one passes through even a small patch of cane without 
flushing at least a few black francolins and often gray francolins as well. 
Clumps of the tall, plumed grass (Erianthes munji) are also likely to hold 
many francolins, as is alfalfa, where it is present. 
Attractive as cultivation is to this species, it is by no means a 
universal component of their habitat. In the "duns" or flat valleys among 
the foothills of the outer Himalayas, black francolins are often to be 
found. Throughout the grass and shrublands bordering the Ramganga River 
in the Corbett National Park near Ramnagar we found these birds in abun- 
dance though far removed from any cropland. Nor were they uncommon in 
adjacent overgrown forest clearings and some even penetrated the mature 
forest for short distances. The same was true in pole stands in the 
Palamau forest of Bihar but only if the trees were sufficiently scattered 
to encourage an understory of grass and weeds. Cabbage palmetto, grass, 
and brush held many birds in the rolling foothills of Pakistan's North- 
west Frontier. 
Topography and Elevation 
In arid regions most black francolins are found on flat to gently 
rolling lands where soil moisture encourages the growth of fairly dense 
vegetation. River banks or the strips of spoil along irrigation ditches 
also often provide escape cover, Where rainfall is sufficient to en- 
courage more vegetation, slopes, unless quite steep, seem to be no bar- 
rier to these birds. In hilly country, they are usually in the valleys 
though we also flushed francolins high up on cultivated and meadow slopes 
of the outer Himalayas near Simla up to 8,500 feet, 
Soils 
Remembering the wide range of topography and precipitation within 
which black francolins are found and the very extensive distribution of 
this species, it seems clear that they are at home on a great variety of 
soil types. In the Indian subcontinent four major types of soils are 
common within the range of the northern Indian black francolins. The 
alluvium of the Indo-Gangetic plains is for the most part a sandy to clay 
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