Red-necked Francolin
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| Red-necked Francolin | ||||||||||||||
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| Francolinus afer Muller, 1766 |
The Red-necked Francolin (Francolinus afer) is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. Formerly classified as a Spurfowl, it is now regarded a member of the Francolinus genus.
It breeds across the central belt of Africa and down the east coast to Tanzania.
It is 25-38cm in length, with a significant size difference between the subspecies, of which there are seven. It is a generally dark francolin, brown above and black-streaked grey or white underparts. The bill, bare facial skin, neck and legs are bright red.
It is a wary species, keeping to deep cover, although it sometimes feeds in open scrub or cultivation if disturbance is limited and there are thickets nearby. the nest is a bare scrape, and 3-9 eggs are laid
Reference
- Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse by Madge and McGowan, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0