GREY JUNGLE-FOWL 175 



growth is seeding. In the rains it spends a good deal of time 

 in the trees even by day, and always roosts there. 



It is not nearly so sociable as the red jungle-fowl ; a 

 party will only consist of an old pair and their young, and old 

 cocks, which are particularly wary, are often found alone. 



The note is just as characteristic in this species as the 

 plumage ; the crow is difficult to recognize as such at first, until 

 one observes the deliberateness and periodicity of its production. 

 I can only describe and imitate it by putting in words how 

 it struck me when I at last caught a captive specimen in the act 

 of challenging : " Oh lor' ! what a cac-kle !" Once known, how- 

 ever, it can be recognized at a long distance ; but the birds- 

 only crow when in full feather, i.e., from October to May. 



The cackle of the cock is more easily compared to that of the 

 red jungle-fowl ; it seems to correspond to the last two notes of 

 the familiar " tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk-auk " of agitated poultry, and 

 sounds like " tooruk, tooruk," pronounced in a harsh tone. The 

 hen is rarely heard, but is said to be voluble when she does call, 

 uttering a hoarse note like " uk-a-uk-a-uk " very rapidly, no 

 doubt very like the cock's alarm-calls. 



On the western face of the Nilgiris these birds breed 

 during the last quarter of the year, but the time is different 

 in different localities, and somewhere or other they may be found 

 nesting in almost any month. The eggs incline to be more 

 numerous than those of the northern jungle-fowl, and are far 

 more variable, being either short, with a coarse pitted glossy shell 

 of rich buff, or long, fine-shelled and pale creamy, or some type 

 between these, often brown-speckled. 



They have bred in captivity in England pretty freely, and in 

 one case were crossed freely with game bantams, the resulting 

 hybrids breeding freely every way. The same experimenter who 

 bred these also bred the pure birds and turned them out in the 

 woods, but found them too quickly destroyed by foxes to render the 

 process worth keeping up ; but he mentioned that they got 

 up wilder than the pheasants, and afforded better sport, being 

 quicker and more difficult to hit. 



Davison, who was much impressed by what he believed to be 

 the peaceful disposition of the species, says that they would not 



