THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 7 



red jungle-fowl leaves little to be added. Eliminating the areas 

 in which the Burmese form occurs his summary' is as follows : — 



" Throughout the lower ranges of the Himalayas, the 

 " Dhuns Tarais, and submontane districts and the Siwaliks 

 " from the southern outer ranges of Kashmir to the extreme 

 •' head of the Assam Valley bej^ond Sadiya. 



'' Throughout the whole of Assam including the less 

 "elevated portions of the Caro, Kliasi and Naga Hills, Cachar 

 "' and Sylhet, the whole of Eastern Bengal, including the 

 " Sunderbans. Again in the hilly portions of Western Ben- 

 " gal from the Rajmehal hills, through Midnapore, and 

 •' westward of this, through the whole of Chota Nagpore, and 

 " the northern and eastern portions of the Central Provinces, 

 " it is the only jungle-fowl that is found. It is common 

 " along the Kymore Range, and extends northwards to the 

 " neighbourhood of Piinnah and Chairkhari, and south- 

 " wards on the ]\Iaikal or Amarkantak Ranges. 



" Southwards and eastwards of these latter, it occupies the 

 '' whole country north of the Godavari, Orissa, the Tributary 

 "Mahals, Ganjam, Vizagaptam, and part of the Godavari 

 " District, Joonagurh, Kareall, Nowagurh, Jej^pore and 

 "other Feudatory States. It occurs also immediately below 

 " Pachmarhi." 

 Forsj^th has shewn that the habitat of this jungle-fowl is prac- 

 tically that of the Swamp Deer (Cerviis duvauceli) and of the Sal- 

 tree (Shorea robusta') and a curious corroboration of this is the 

 occurrence of all three of these in the Deinwa Valley, near Pach- 

 marhi, although there is an intervening country of some J 50 miles 

 eastward before the three are again met with. At the same time 

 it must be noted that the Red Jungle-fowl does not occur in 

 Bhawalpore and Sind where the Swamp Deer is found, though not 

 the Sal-tree. 



A'idijication. — The Red Jungle-fowl breeds, over the whole of its 

 habitat, the season apparentlj^ not varying much in different locali- 

 ties as it does with some birds. Thus even in the hot, drj^ portions 

 of the Central Provinces and Punjab, etc., they appear to lay from 

 April to June, not v.-aiting until the bursting of the rains ensures 

 more food and a cooler temperature. At the same time it is 

 certain that although the months just mentioned may be the 

 principal breeding months a much wider margin of time than is 

 covered by these miist be allowed for their nidification. I have 

 personally taken their eggs in the Santhal Perganas, Chota Nagpore, 

 Assam and Cachar in every month of the year except October, 

 November and December. In the last mentioned month, however, 

 I have seen just hatched chicks, so it would be unsafe to exclude 

 any month of the year from their breeding season. In Assam 



