and inner secondaries white-shafted. Tail feathers 14, Central tail 
feathers like upper tail coverts; outer tail feathers light chestnut 
grading into broad, black subterminal bars, tips pale gray, Breast 
and flanks pale ochraceous-rufous, broken with black transverse bars; 
some chestnut diffused over upper breast. 
Iris hazel brown, bill dusky plumbeous, paler and fleshy at the 
base; legs buff gray, each with one long (up to 3/4 of an inch), very 
sharp, metatarsal spur. Double spurs, one above the other on one or both 
legs, occasionally occur, On young males "nubbin" spurs can usually be 
found at 6 to 8 weeks of age. 
Female -- Similar to the male but usually without spurs. 
Young -~ At 2% to 3 months of age the young closely resemble adult 
birds except in size. Small, blunt spurs are normally present on young 
males at this time. 
Crossbreeds 
Crosses between the northern gray and the Makran gray francolin were 
common among the birds trapped in the lower Indus valley and are reported 
to occur where the ranges of the two subspecies overlap. 
Size and Weight 
The gray francolins are somewhat longer and more solidly built than 
the eastern bobwhite. Hume (26) gives the length of an adult male as 
11.6 to 13.4 inches; the weight as 9 to 12 oz. Females are described as 
weighing 7 to 11 oz., with a length of 10.2 to 11.9 inches. 
Netted east of Delhi, early in April, and weighed three days after 
trapping, 114 males averaged 9.68 oz.; 91 females 8.04 oz. in weight. 
It would not be uncommon for these birds to lose up to 2 ounces each, due 
to the strain of netting and penning, but to gain this back before ship- 
ment to the States. 
In southern India, about Hyderabad, there is a strain of substan- 
tially larger gray francolin which is commonly known as "Hyderabadi 
partridges."" These birds are much prized over India and Pakistan as 
fighters and are commonly trapped and tamed for this purpose. We kept 
such a male until he died at 7 years of age. He was at least a quarter 
larger and 3 ounces heavier than any of the males trapped in northern 
India. 
The Makran gray is recognizably smaller than the northern gray 
francolin. 
Habitat and Cover Preferences 
Cover 
Gray francolins are adaptable to the widest variety of habitats of 
any game bird on the Indian subcontinent. Except for dense forests, 
swampy ground, bare, treeless or shrubless deserts and steep terrain, 
they utilize about every other type of cover providing some food and a 
source of water, often dew, is available. Humid tracts are also avoided. 
51 

