Photo © by Alok Tewari
Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand Himalayas, India, 10 June 2016
- Francolinus francolinus
Identification
31–36 cm (12-14 in)
Male
- Mainly black
- White spotting on back and flanks
- Chestnut neck collar
- White cheek patches
- Brown wings
- Red legs
The amount white spotting on the flanks varies considerably
Female
- Mainly brown
- Chestnut hind neck
- The depth of colour of the females varies
Distribution
Kashmir, Cyprus, south-eastern Turkey, Iran, southwest Turkmenistan, northeast India, and south-western Nepal.
Introduced to Hawaii
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 6 subspecies[1]:
- F. f. francolinus:
- Cyprus and Asia Minor to Iraq and Iran
- F. f. arabistanicus:
- F. f. bogdanovi:
- Southern Iran and Afghanistan to southern Pakistan
- F. f. henrici:
- F. f. asiae:
- Northern India
- F. f. melanonotus:
- Eastern India to Sikkim and Bangladesh
Habitat
Scrubby habitats with plenty of low cover. Grassland and other cultivated areas. Also wetlands.
Behaviour
Breeding
They nest in a bare ground scrape. The clutch consists of 8-18 pale greenish-brown eggs with white spots.
Diet
The diet consists of a variety of seeds from grass, weeds and cereal crops; also leaves, shoots, tubers berries and fruit. They also eat many insects and their larvae.
Vocalisation
Recording © by Alok Tewari
(Jim Corbett NP, India, May-2016
Call
In Culture
State bird of Haryana (India).
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Mar 2018)
- Wikipedia
- Birdforum Member observations
- Birdforum members description of their courtship
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black Francolin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 16 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black_Francolin
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1