THE GAME BIRDS 01 J^DIA. 39 



" is the disease which the Jungle-fowl evidently catch, A 



" dog of mine caught a Jungle-cock with one eye lost, and 



" evidently from this cause." 



A collector working for me in Ceylon also once wrote to me that 



he had caught a cock sitting crouched under a bush, which made 



no attempt to fly as he approached, and which, when released, 



tumbled about for a bit on the ground, and then huddled itself up 



in some grass and allowed itself to be again caught. Nothing was 



observed to be wrong with this bird phj'sically, but its actions gave 



it the appearance of being hopelessly intoxicated. 



Mr. W. A. T. Kellow also once wrote to me and said that his 

 collector informed him that it was no rare thing for them to catch 

 Jungle- fowl in this — as they termed it — intoxicated condition. It 

 may, however, be that Bligh's explanation is the correct interpreta- 

 tion of these curious cases of apparent intoxication. That there is 

 something which occurs at the time the Strohilanthes seeds, which 

 renders the Jungle-fowl practically helpless is vouched for by 

 Legge himself who asserts : — 



" Certain it is that at this period the Jungle-fowl in the 

 " Horton Plains and about Naivara-Eliya do become affected, 

 " and are apparently so intoxicated that they may be knocked 

 " down with a stick." 

 The crow of the Ceylon Jungle-cock has been described, as I have 

 said above, as a call of " George Joyce" rapidly repeated. This 

 call, according to Mr. Holdsworth, is uttered by the cock as he 

 runs up and down some stout branch, raising and lowering his 

 head at each call. Never having seen the bird in its wild state, 

 I cannot say whether this is correct or not, but when in -captivity 

 it undoubtedly " crows" much as a domestic cock does, stretching 

 himself on tip-toes higher and higher as he proceeds, and often 

 flapping his wings both before and after crowing. I have often 

 seen the Red Jungle-fowl crow, and certainly this is the attitude 

 always adopted by them, and it is most amusing to see a fine 

 Jungle-cock caught in the middle of a crow ; his triumphant 

 attitude of challenge to the whole world crumples up so instantane- 

 ously as he leaps to the ground and skulks off" with head and tail 

 down and body as close to the ground as he can get it. 



The Cejdon Jungle-fowl is not easy to bring up in captivity, and 

 as a rule, does not long survive close confinement. At the same 

 time a good njany birds have been successfully reared and domes- 

 ticated, though 1 know of no instance in which birds allowed their 

 freedom have not eventually cleared ofl" altogether. 



