Wariness 
In its native range we never considered the male black francolin 
to be a particularly wary bird. We have pursued birds for considerable 
distances on foot in open cover without flushing them. Calling males 
sometimes may be approached within 75 feet before they take wing or 
sneak to another calling location, seldom far away. Surprised at the 
edge of a covert they are more likely to melt into it rather than to 
seek escape by flying. 
Females are much more secretive. Especially when the cocks are 
calling, one is apt to see a dozen cocks to one hen. Yet in hunting, 
no great difference in wariness was observed between the sexes. Broods 
are particularly difficult to find. 
In captivity blacks tame down rather more quickly than gray franco-~ 
lin but seldom get as completely accustomed to man as do hand-raised grays. 
Resting and Roosting 
Black francolins normally rest and roost on the ground, usually in 
fairly dense cover that is open beneath. In Turkey, brushy clumps, in 
Iraq tamarisk thickets, and in Pakistan and India brushy, weedy or grassy 
clumps or tangles were common places for concealment. Fields of wheat, 
barley, cotton, mustard or of leguminous crops were frequently utilized. 
Fields of sugarcane were most attractive of all. Birds could usually be 
trapped or flushed there at all hours of the day. We never saw a black 
francolin roosting on a branch at night though the male birds frequently 
use such, often exposed, perches for calling. But among penned birds 
there were usually a few that roosted on flat boards or bamboo poles 
projected crosswise through the pens, 
Nesting and Renesting 
The literature contains many records of nests located between April 
and September. Country folk in southern Turkey reported some nesting by 
late March, as does Baker for Assam, but we are convinced that these birds 
may breed both earlier and later given favorable conditions. A black 
female trapped for us near Meerut, northern India, on February 24 con- 
tained an egg ready to be laid. A youngster not over three weeks old 
was netted in the same locality on November 5 and all through the winter 
and into March small numbers of birds 1/3 to 1/2 grown were delivered 
to us by our trappers. Baker quotes Whymper as reporting a nest of eggs 
near Nanital, northern India at 5,000 feet on October 21. 
In some desert areas certain birds are known to breed largely with 
the advent of or during the rainy season. There seems to be a clear case 
for this with the northern black francolin, In southern Turkey and north- 
ern Iraq there are winter and spring rains but the summer is dry. Here 
the francolins normally nest from March to May. But in India when mon- 
soons are from the northeast in late winter and from the southwest in 
summer, the black francolins may breed anytime from February through No- 
vember. A good northeast monsoon, that brings two inches of rain or more 
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