III. ON THE PROPER NAME OF THE RED 

 JUNGLE FOWL FROM PENIN- 

 SULAR INDIA. 



By Herbert C. Robinson and C. Boden Ki.oss. 



Examination of a large series of Red Jungle Fowl from East 

 Java has raised an interesting point in connection with the proper 

 names of the various races of Red Jungle Fowl which extend from 

 Western India to Cochin-China^ Hainan and the Phihppines in the 

 East and to Java in the South, reappearing in the higher islands of 

 the Pacific, where possibly it owes its introduction to man. 



For those who use the I2th edition of Linnaeus, the first name 

 available is Phasianus gallus Linnaeus, S3'st. Nat. i, 1766, p. 270 ; 

 after specifying several varieties (a, ^, y, etc.) Linnaeus proceeds 

 to quote a locality as Habitat in India Orientale ; Pouli candor, 

 etc. We consider that this paragraph refers to the species as a 

 whole and not to the variety Gallus pusillus which immediately 

 precedes it. The type locality of Gallus gallus may therefore be 

 taken as the island of Pulau Condor off the southernmost mouth of 

 the Mekong, and Cochin-China birds may therefore be assumed to 

 be typical. Linnaeus certainly had access to specimens from this 

 island which were contained in the Mus. Carlsonianum at Gothen- 

 burg, as is evidenced by the description of Larus polo-condor by 

 Sparrman hitherto known as Sterna dougalH. However, many 

 people refuse to accept " gallus " as a specific name as it was applied 

 to the domestic bird in the Fauna Svecica. The Pulau Condor 

 bird was also probably a domestic fowl as we have recently re- 

 ceived a collection from the island, which does not include it. 

 Should this objection be upheld, the next binomial name is Tetrao 

 ferrugineus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i, pt. 2, 1788, p. 761, vide Hartert 

 {Nov. Zool. IX, 1902, p. 218). 



This name is founded jointly on the " Grande Caille de la 

 Chine ", Sonnerat, Voy. Ind. Orient., ii, 1782, p. 171, and on 

 Latham's " Hackled Partridge," Gen. Syn. Av., ii, 1783, p. 766, 

 pi. 66, which latter gives an excellent figure of the female from a 

 bird in the Leverian Museum, probably now in Vienna, said to 

 come from the Cape of Good Hope. If Sonnerat's bird did not 

 actually come from China it must have come from the Philippines 

 or from some place east of the head of the Bay of Bengal. He 

 visited no area in Peninsular India whence the Red Jungle Fowl 

 is known to occur. 



It is evident, therefore, that whether the specific names gallus 

 or jerruginem be used, they must both be applied to the Eastern 

 and not to the Western race, if utilised for wild birds. 



