290 FOWL 
after the crops are cut in straggling parties of from 10 to 20. The 
crow to which the cock gives utterance morning and evening is 
described as being just like that of a BANTAM, but never prolonged 
as in some domestic birds. The hen breeds from January to July, 
according to the locality; and lays from 8 to 12 creamy-white 
eggs, occasionally scraping together a few leaves or a little dry 
grass by way of a nest. The so-called G. giganteus, formerly taken 
by some ornithologists for a distinct species, is now regarded as a 
tame breed of @. ferrugineus or bankiva. The second good species is 
the Grey Jungle-Fowl, G. sonnerati, whose range begins a little to 
the northward of the limits of the preceding, and it occupies the 
southern part of the Indian peninsula, without being found else- 
where. The cock has the shaft of the neck-hackles dilated, forming 
a horny plate, the terminal portion of which is lke a drop of 
yellow sealing-wax. His call is said to be very peculiar, being a 
broken and imperfect kind of crow, quite unlike that of G. ferru- 
gineus, and impossible, says Jerdon, to describe. The two species, 
where their respective ranges overlap, occasionally interbreed in a 
wild state, and the present readily crosses in confinement with 
domestic poultry, but the hybrids are nearly always sterile. The 
third species is the Cingalese Jungle-Fowl, G. stanley: (the G. lafay- 
ettii of some authors), peculiar to Ceylon. This also greatly 
resembles in plumage some domestic birds, but the cock is red 
beneath, and has a yellow comb with a red edge, and purplish-red 
cheeks and wattles. He has also a singularly different voice, his 
crow being dissyllabic. This bird crosses readily with tame hens, 
but the hybrids are said to ke infertile. The fourth species, 
G. varius (the G. furcatus of some authors), 
inhabits Java and the islands eastwards 
as far as Flores. This differs remarkably 
from the others in not possessing hackles, 
and in having a large unserrated comb 
of red and blue, and only a single chin- 
wattle. The predominance of green in 
its plumage is another easy mark of 
distinction. | Hybrids between _ this 
species and domestic birds are often 
produced, but they are most commonly sterile. Some of them 
have been mistaken for distinct species, as those which have received 
the names of G. xneus and G. temminck. 
Several circumstances seem to render it likely that Fowls were 
first domesticated in Burma or the countries adjacent thereto, and 
it is the tradition of the Chinese that they received their poultry 
from the West about the year 1400 B.c. By the Institutes of 
Manu, the date of which is variously assigned from 1200 to 
800 B.c., the tame Fowl is forbidden, though the wild is allowed 
GALLUS VARIUS. (After Swainson.) 
