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N U I ^ 1 DA p u c h e i ^a n i
NUMIDA PUCHERANI.
PUCHERAN’S, GUINEA-FOWL.
NUMIDA PUCHERANI, Hartl. Journ. für Ornith. (I860) p. 341— Gray, List Gall. (1867) p. 44.—SclatvProc. Zool. Soc. (1863) p. 126. sp. 6.
—Speri. Ibis (1868),,p. 291.—Hartl: Reis. Ost-Afrika (1870), p. 574.—Gray, Hand-list of Birds, partii, p. 263. no. 9635.
N . CRISTATA, Layard* Ibis ( 1861) , p. 120 ; (|l864), p. 133.—Layard, B. of S. Africa, p. 267.—Kirk, Ibis (1864),
N. MITRATA, Layard, Ibis (1865), p. 239.,r '
H ab. Eastern Africa: Zambesi delta, Shupanga, Shiré a t Chibisa (K irk ) ; Zanzibar ( L ayard) .
T h is is apparently the eastern form of Numida cristate, Pall., and differs from that species in the entire absence of pure
black feathers upon the breast, the spots extending nearly all the way to[|1ie naked skin of the throat. It was for a long
tiine; confounded with cristate, and is even now, the reJinblance between the Crested Guinea-fowls being very great, although
this species ¡ S its completely speckled breast presents a more easily distinguishable mark than some o f its allies when skins
alone are available for examination. Dr. Kirk states that “ this fine species was observed in large flocks a t the head of the
Zambesi delta, Shupanga, on the Shire a t Chibisa, and in the interior about forty miles east of the Victoria Falls. | | | t s nest is
formed on the ground among grass. This keeps more to the forest than the Common Guinea-fowl, which frequents the open
plains, and resorts during the dry season t o , the river every night.” Also Captain Sperling, in his ‘ Ornithological Notes from
the Ethiopian Region,’ says of this' G u in e a - f o w l “ I brought four of these alive to the C a p e |||b u t, as I was unable, from
illness, to attend to them when there, three died and one escaped, or I should have forwarded them ’to England. I fancy
that they must be pretty hardy, as the o n e . that got away is now living on the mountain-side at the back of Simon’s Town,
where it must be put to severe shifts to get a living amongst the parched bushes and rocks; besides which it survived six
weeks’ confinement on board ship.’’
This bird may be described as similar to N . cristate, but without any entirely black feathers upon the breast, the spots reaching
to the bare skin of the neck.