Swainson's spurfowl

Swainson's spurfowl, also known as Swainson's francolin, is a bird from the Phasianidae family. It can be found across several African countries, including Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, locals call it "chikwari" in the Shona language, and it is especially popular among outdoor enthusiasts and hunters for its palatable meat.

The bird is named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist. It was first described in 1836 by the Scottish zoologist Andrew Smith, who assigned it the scientific name *Perdix swainsonii* in Swainson's honor. Swainson's spurfowl belongs to the genus *Pternistis*, which was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. Notably, this bird is considered monotypic, meaning it does not have any recognized subspecies, despite the proposed subspecies *P. s. lundazi*.

For those interested in seeing specimens of Swainson's spurfowl, several museums house them in their collections. These include the National Museums Liverpool, the Natural History Museum at Tring, and National Museums Scotland. These specimens are invaluable for studying the bird's physical characteristics and distribution.