grey francolin

Rather plain buffish face, and buffish-whiter throat with fine necklace of dark spotting. Finely barred upperparts and underparts. Shows rufous tail in flight. The nominate subspecies of S peninsular India and Sri Lanka has a buffish-orange coloration to face and throat, and has darker, more chestnut coloration to upperparts and breast, compared with northern subspecis F. p. interpositus and F. p. mecranensis (which are paler and greyer, and have a whiter throat).

The Grey Francolin frequents cultivated areas, grasslands and steppes in temperate zones. It needs ground cover such as scattered shrubby areas and hedgerows from where it flushes when disturbed. This species is a bird of the open areas, but it has adapted to the changes for agriculture expansion.

The Grey Francolin feeds on seeds of weeds and cereals, and grass leaves. It catches insects such as Coleopteran, aphids and bugs, and Hemiptera, Heteroptera and some larger bugs, beetles and cereal aphids.

Makes a rapidl repeated khateeja-khateeja-khateeja; also softer, more whistling kila-kila-kila, and a high, whirring khirr-khirr.

The grey francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus) is a species of francolin found in the plains and drier parts of the Indian subcontinent. This species was formerly also called the grey partridge not to be confused with the European grey partridge. They are found in open cultivated lands as well as scrub forest and their local name of teetar is based on their calls a loud and repeated Ka-tee-tar...tee-tar which is produced by one or more birds. The term teetar can also refer to other partridges and quails. During the breeding season calling males attract challengers and decoys were used to trap these birds especially for fighting. It is a medium-sized francolin with males averaging 11.6&ndash13.4 in (29&ndash34 cm) and females averaging 10.2&ndash11.9 in (26&ndash30 cm). The males weigh 9&ndash12 oz (260&ndash340 g) whereas the weight of the females is 7&ndash11 oz (200&ndash310 g). The francolin is barred throughout and the face is pale with a thin black border to the pale throat. The only similar species is the painted francolin which has a rufous vent. The male can have up to two spurs on the legs while females usually lack them. Subspecies mecranensis is palest and found in arid North-Western India Eastern Pakistan and Southern Iran. Subspecies interpositus is darker and intermediate found in northern India. The nominate race in the southern peninsula of India has populations with a darker rufous throat supercilium and is richer brown. They are weak fliers and fly short distances escaping into undergrowth after a few spurts of flight. In flight it shows a chestnut tail and dark primaries. The race in Sri Lanka is sometimes given the name ceylonensis or considered as belonging to the nominate.