This ground-dwelling bird walks through savanna with patches of grass. Males and females have different breast patterns.
The male has streaks on its breast, while the female has fine bars there.
White-throated Francolins walk through grassy plains in pairs or small groups, eating grass seeds and beetles. Birds in eastern Angola also use open plains where the vegetation is less than about thirty centimetres high.
A report published in 1960 described an unexpected menu. During late July–early August 1957, an expedition collected five specimens near Luacano, Angola. Three came from a covey of seven and the other two from a separate pair, both on short-grass plains.
The foods reported were beetles, grass seeds, small fish and a small frog. Alongside seeds and insects, this limited eastern Angolan collection therefore documented these small animals in the diet, preserving an unusual example of a grassland bird eating fish.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Cameia National Park, Angola, where White-throated Francolins are known, retains seasonally flooded grasslands. A 2018 ecosystem study warned of proposed large-scale conversion to industrial rice farming and aquaculture, calling for sustainable management and conservation. The authors urged better understanding of the ecosystem’s seasonal changes and biodiversity before such development.