28 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



" either perching in some leafy tree, or else dropping to the 

 " ground. 



" The}^ are very punctual in their appearance at particular 

 " feeding grounds, and when one or more are met with in any 

 " particular spot, they are certain, if not disturbed in the 

 " interim, to be found there again in the same place at about 

 " the same hour the next or any subsequent day on which they 

 " may be looked for. There was one particularly fine and 

 " remarkabl}" shy and cunning old cock that frecjuented an 

 " open glade in the forest (above the Government Cinchona 

 " Plantations at Neddivuttum) in i;he morning, Avhereas in the 

 " evening he always came into the plantation and wandered 

 about under the cinchona trees, and along the plantation 

 roads. He never, to ni}'^ knowledge — and I mvist have seen 

 him fifty times at least — came into the plantation in the 

 " morning, or into the glade in the evening. There was no 

 ' ' doubt as to this being the same bird that frequented the two 

 " places (nearly a quarter of a mile distant), for he was the 

 " largest, handsomest, and to judge from his spurs, the oldest 

 " C(5ck I ever saw. •' I loved that cock as a brother, I did, and 

 " at last I circumvented and shot him.' 



" The best time to shoot the Jungle-cock is from October 

 "to the end of May, as then his hackles are in the best 

 " condition. 



" In June the moult begins, and the male gradually drops 

 " his hackles and long tail feathers, the hackles being replaced 

 "by short feathers, as in the female ; dming the rains the male 

 " is a poor mean-looking object, not in the least like his 

 " handsome self in the cold weather, and, fully conscious of 

 " this fact, he religiously holds his tongue during this period. 



" In September, a second moult takes place, the short 

 " feathers of the neck are again replaced by the hackles, the 

 " long tail feathers reappear, and by October the moult is 

 " complete and our Southern Chanticleer as noisy as ever. 



" The male usually carries its tail low, and when running, 

 " it does so with the tail lowered still more, the neck out- 

 " stretched, and the whole body in a crouching position as in 

 "the Pheasants. 



" I do not know for certain whether the species is polygam- 

 " ous or monogamous, but from what I have observed I should 

 " think the latter ; for although the male does not, I believe, 

 " assist in incubation, yet when the chicks are hatched, he is 

 " often to be found in company with his mate and little ones. 



" These birds are, I believe, quite amtamable, even when 

 " reared from the egg, and though in the latter case they may 

 " not be so wild as those captured in maturity, they never take 



