10 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XX F. 



improbability in the idea that first made me investigate it, and I 

 have no doubt that there is no foundation for it in fact. 



Another common theory which there seems good reason to 

 doubt is that Jungle-fowl are always polygamous. Hume draws 

 attention to this and^aj's : — 



" Lastly, I am quite certain that they are not always 



" polygamous. I do not agree with Hutton that they are 



" always monogamous, because I have constantly found 



" several hens in company with a single cock, but I have also 



" repeatedly shot pairs without finding a single other hen in 



" the neighbourhood." 



There is, however, a good explanation of the first mentioned 



condition of affairs, for I think that the J^oung cocks leave the 



family circle before the young hens do, and in consequence the 



male parent may often be seen in company with half a dozen hens 



and no cocks, so that whilst one seldom finds hens wandering about 



by themselves, unless they are incubating eggs, one often comes 



across young cocks, either quite alone or with one other young 



cock of like age ; probably a brother. It may be that the old cock 



drives off the young birds, but it is more likely that the latter 



being of a more roving, independent nature, clear off sooner than 



the hens. 



General Habits. — Jungle-fowl may be found in practically any 

 kind of country in which there is sufficient cover, but there is 

 little doubt that they prefer country consisting of shallow valleys, 

 low hills and broken ground at the foot of big hills rather than 

 open plains country or the higher hills. As already mentioned, 

 they maj^ be found up .to, or even over, 6,000 feet, but they 

 are mere stragglers to such heights, and it is below 2,000 feet 

 rather than over that we must look for them if we want them 

 in number sufficient to make the shooting of them a regular 

 business. Another undoubted attraction is cultivation when it 

 borders on forest or bamboo jungle ; nor does it seem to matter 

 much what the cultivation is, whether grain, rice, mustard, cotton 

 or chillies. Any kind of crop seems to offer food either in itself, 

 in the insects it attracts or in its semi-open patches which supply 

 an easy hunting ground. 



Jungle-fowl are extraordinarily numerous in the Garo, N. Cachar 

 and other hills south of the Brahmapootra, and it is often possible 

 to see hundreds in a morning's or afternoon's wandering. Once 

 when shooting on the Kopoli River, a stream which divides the 

 Khasia and N. Cachar Hills, I must have seen full}^ 500 birds 

 during the day. It was then early in March, and the flocks of 

 birds had not yet broken up into pairs to commence breeding, and 

 every afternoon and evening they frequented the long stretches of 

 mustard field which run along the banks of the stream. Although 



