Gray Francolin

Identification

This bird is a medium-sized francolin, with males averaging 11.6–13.4 in (29–34 cm) and females averaging 10.2–11.9 in (26–30 cm). The males weigh 9–12 oz (260–340 g) whereas the weight of the females is 7–11 oz (200–310 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.

Taxonomy

The grey francolin was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the grouse like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao pondicerianus. Gmelin based his description on "Le perdix de Pondichéry" that had been described in 1782 by the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat in his Voyage aux Indes orientales et a la Chine. The grey francolin was formerly placed in the genus Francolinus. Based on a phylogenetic study published in 2019 the grey francolin, together with the crested francolin and swamp francolin, were moved to the resurrected genus Ortygornis that had been introduced in 1852 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ortux meaning "quail" with ornis meaning "bird". The specific epithet pondicerianus is from the toponym Pondicherry, a town in southeast India.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:

Scientific name

Ortygornis pondicerianus

Authority

(Gmelin, JF, 1789)

Order

Galliformes

Family

Phasianidae

Genus

Ortygornis

Range and habitat

The grey francolin is normally found foraging on bare or low grass covered ground in scrub and open country, and is rarely found above an altitude of 500 m above sea level in India, and 1200 m in Pakistan. The distribution is south of the foothills of the Himalayas westwards to the Indus Valley and eastwards to Bengal. It is also found in north-western Sri Lanka. Introduced populations are found in the Andaman and Chagos Islands. They have been introduced to Nevada in the United States of America and Hawaii, along with several other species of francolin.

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

The loud calls of the birds are commonly heard early in the mornings. Pairs of birds will sometimes engage in a duet. The female call is a tee...tee...tee repeated and sometimes a kila..kila..kila and the challenge call kateela..kateela..kateela is a duet. They are usually seen in small groups.<p>The main breeding season is April to September and the nest is a hidden scrape on the ground. The nest may sometimes be made above ground level in a niche in a wall or rock. The clutch is six to eight eggs, but larger clutches, potentially reflecting intraspecific brood parasitism, have been noted.<p>Food includes seeds, grains as well as insects, particularly termites and beetles (especially Tenebrionidae and Carabidae). They may occasionally take larger prey such as snakes.<p>They roost in groups in low thorny trees.<p>Several species of feather mites, helminth and blood parasites have been described from the species.

Conservation

Population trend

stable