2 90 • PHEASANTS. 



with a more measured step, with his wings let down, and liis tail carried in a 

 more erect position. Being polygamous, he now takes possession of a certain 

 " beat," from whence he drives every male intruder, and commences his 

 "crowing," attended with a peculiar clapping of his wings as a note of invi- 

 tation to the other sex as well as of defiance to his own. The fejnale makes 

 a very inartificial nest upon the ground, in long grass or thick underwood, 

 and not unfrcquently in fields of clover ; she lays from ten to fourteen eggs of 

 a clear oil-green colour. The young are hatched during the months of June 

 or July, and continue with the hen until they begin to moult and assume the 

 adult plumage ; after this period the young males are only to be distinguislied 

 from the older birds by the comparative shortness and bluntness of the tarsal 

 spur. Hybrids between the pheasant and the domestic hen are by no means 

 uncommon, and the peculiar form, as well as the colour of the plumage, 

 together with the wild and suspicious mien of the pheasant parent, are handed 

 down through several generations. The grouse will also mate with the phea- 

 sant, and even the turkey and Guinea-fowl are said to contract a like curious 

 alliance. 



Sub-Family III. 



THE JUNGLE-FOWLS. GALLIN/E. 



Gen'eral Characteristics. — Bill moderate, with the apical half vaulted and arched 

 to the tip, which is obtuse ; the nostrils placed in a large membranous groove, with 

 the opening large, nearly semicircular, and protected by a scale ; the wings mode- 

 rate, concave, much rounded, with the secondaries the length of the quills, ample 

 and broad ; the tail compressed, and generally arched ; the tarsi as long as or longer 

 than the middle toe, Kobust, and armed with a spur ; the toes long, and the front 

 ones united at their base by a membrane. 



These birds are fotind in the forests of India and the neigh- 

 bouring islands. They frequent the close brushwoods that cover 

 the precipitous and rugged gorges of the mountains, but some 

 species prefer level ground. They are generally seen in coveys 

 of eight or ten individuals. When alarmed, they do not take 

 wing, but endeavour to hide themselves among the covers, run- 

 ning with great rapidity. Their note is a subdued melancholy 

 chuck. Their food consists of seeds, wild berries, roots, insects, &c. 



A beautiful species — 



The Javan Fowl {Gal/us Baukh'o), is generally believed to be the 

 original stock of our doonestic poultry. It closely resembles in plumage some 

 of the dunghill cocks of this country, although it is considerably less in size. 

 This bird appears to have been domesticated in the East at a remote epoch, 

 and must have been introduced into Europe in very ancient times. It was 

 well known to the Greeks and Romans, who, like our own people, until recently, 



