Painted Francolin Francolinus pictus
Etymology:
- Francolinus : Italian name Franci –Free Fowl, because the common people were forbidden to take them as the royalty had granted them freedom of living
- Pictus : Latin word pingere –to paint { painted}.
- Pallidus : Latin word for Pallid, Pale
Distribution in India: Resident of Peninsular India.
- Nominate – Central & South India
- p. pallidus – North Central India (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and North Madhya Pradesh)
Description: Size of 31–32 cm; weight of 242–340 g. Both sexes have brighter rufous face and throat, no dark postocular line, and more heavily spotted underparts. The legs and feet are orange-yellow to red. The male has bold, white-spotted black mantle. The female has paler, unspotted chin, buffier toned and slightly barred underparts, as well as duller bare parts. The juvenile is like female, but more heavily marked on flanks and lower breast.
Races separated on darkness of underparts. Race pallidus being overall paler than the nominate, with broadly buff-edged, blackish-centred wing-coverts and mantle.
Habitat: It is found in mosaic of grassland and cultivation with scattered bushes on rolling hills, intersected with watercourses and damp gullies, in thick cover of shrubs, crops or grassland. It is found up to 1200 m.
Food habits: It eats Seeds of grasses, weeds and cereals, and fresh grass and cereal shoots, berries and drupes, also termites and other insects and their larvae and eggs. It is usually found in pairs or small family parties.
Breeding habits: They breed Jun–Oct. The nest is a slightly lined scrape, usually sited within dense cover in fields, grassland or scrub. They lay a clutch of 4–6 olive-brown eggs. The incubation is done by female alone.