Moorland Francolin Scleroptila psilolaema Scientific name definitions

The Moorland Francolin is a member of the red-winged group of francolins that is confined to high-elevation Erica moorland and short grassland, in this case at 2,420–3,890 m in central and southern Ethiopia. This is a medium-sized francolin with a blackish crown, pale rufous ear-coverts and neck-sides, dark rufous-chestnut upperparts with narrow buffish barring, and a whitish throat, freckled darker, and underparts buff with dark spots, becoming paler and less marked rearwards. Until recently, the Moorland Francolin was considered to be conspecific with the Elgon Francolin (Scleroptila elgonensis) of Kenya and neighboring Uganda but they have now been split on the basis of morphological, vocal, and limited genetic data; adding to the taxonomic discussion is the question of whether to recognize multiple subspecies in this species, with the name ellenbecki having been erected for birds in southern Ethiopia.