BED JUNGLE-FOWL 173 



that of pheasants, so that they afford very similar shooting if they 

 can be driven ; but they will not rise if they can help it, and in thick- 

 cover you cannot even see them as a rule without a dog to put 

 them up. They will readily answer an imitation of their crow — 

 at least I found it so the only time I tried ; and anyone can 

 practise on a bantam-cock, which will probably attack them when 

 he understands the insult ! 



Jungle-fowl themselves are exceedingly pugnacious, and have 

 regular fighting-places in the jungle ; the duels are sometimes to 

 the death, for the birds have enormous spurs. When chal- 

 lenging, or courting a hen, the wild cock erects his tail like a 

 tame one. After the breeding-season, which may be at any 

 time during the first half of the year, but in the north at any 

 rate only during the second quarter, the cock goes into un- 

 dress, his flaming frill of hackles giving place to a sober short 

 collar of black, and, as he loses his long tail " sickles " at the 

 same time, he hardly looks like the same bird. Young cocks 

 begin to show the male feathering long before they are full 

 sized, and so are easily distinguishable from their sisters. In 

 the autumn these yearling young birds are fat and particularly 

 good eating. 



The jungle-hen lays on the ground in thickets, the nest 

 being a mere scrape among dead leaves as a rule, but some 

 make up a nest of hay and stalks, &c. About half a dozen 

 eggs are the usual clutch, and they are cream-coloured and of 

 course smaller than a tame hen's. The chicks are striped with 

 chocolate and cream on a brown ground ; the mother looks 

 after them with the greatest care and devoted courage. 



Naturally so widespread a bird as this has many names, 

 mostly signifying the same as the English — wild fowl; Bon-hoTira 

 in Bengali ; Ayam-utan in the Malay States ; Tau-hyet in Burma ; 

 Natsii-pia among the Bhutias ; PazoJc-tchi with the Lepchas ; 

 and Beer-seem among the Kols. 



