176 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



breed in captivity (in India), and cocks and hens would live 

 together in peace ; no doubt this was simply because his birds 

 never got into breeding form. Personally, from what I have 

 seen of captive birds, I should never dream of letting two cocks be 

 together along with hens. The ranges of the two species of 

 Indian jungle-fowl meet in places, and in a bit of sal jungle near 

 Panchmarhi the red bird is found in the middle of territory 

 occupied by the present kind. Jerdon once shot a hybrid at one 

 of the meeting points — on the Godavari where it joins the 

 Indravati — so that it is as well to mention, for the better recogni- 

 tion of such, that the peculiar horny spangles of the grey 

 "bird's hackle are lost in the cross, but that the characteristic light 

 shafts to the plumage of the cock and light centres to the hen's 

 breast feathers show up very distinctly ; at least that was the 

 case with a pair of hybrids bred between a Sonnerat or grey cock 

 and a mongrel bantam hen in the London Zoo in 1913. The 

 cock hybrid bird's crow was also distinct, in four syllables, 

 " cock-a-doo-doo." In general appearance he was very like a 

 mongrel reddish bantam, but had the breast reddish as well 

 as the back, and no grey anywhere, this being, so to speak, over- 

 laid with orange-red. 



Ceylon Junglc-fow^l. 



Gallus lafayettii."^ Well kiikula, Cingalese. 



Even if it were not confined to Ceylon, and the only species of 

 jungle-fowl found in that island, there would be no difficulty in 

 distinguishing the Ceylon jungle-fowl. 



The cock's plumage, red below as well as above, and with the 

 same narrow feathers, glassy-lustred everywhere, is quite distinct 

 from that of either of the mainland species, to say nothing of the 

 yellow patch in the middle of the red of his comb. 



The hen, like the cock, shows her distinction from the red 

 jungle-fowl of the north in her under plumage chiefly ; this, 

 instead of the fawn-colour found in the hen of the red jungle- 

 fowl, is black-and-white, not in the form of white centres and 



* stanletji on plate. 



