Mr. R. Swiuhoe on the Ornithology of Hainan. 357 



127. Gallus ferrugineus (Gmel.). 



I fully believed that Hainan would yield a Pheasant of some 

 kind, and I never ceased inquiring of the natives whether 

 " Hill-fowl " (the usual expression for Pheasants) were found 

 among their woods. The reply was in the affirmative, and 

 I eagerly looked out for them. Judge ray disgust, then, 

 when I discovered that the wonderful "Hill-fowl" was only a 

 wretched Jungle-cock. Though greatly disappointed, in heart 

 I was still pleased to make the acquaintance of a bird that I had 

 not met before. On the 18th of February I was rambling in 

 the early morning at Shuy-wei-sze (Central Hainan), and stepped 

 through a hedge into a field at the further end of which was 

 growing a patch of sweet potatoes. A rustic who was with me 

 pulled me by the sleeve and cried " Tvva kai '^ (Hill-fowl). I 

 turned, expecting of course to see a Pheasant. The clod-hop- 

 per was pointing at an ordinary-looking rooster standing in the 

 middle of the field with body erect and tail decumbent. Seeing 

 me take no notice, the native cried out again, " Shoot, it is a wild 

 bird, and not a barn-door fowl." I looked again and saw the 

 bird moving away behind a hedge. When I got in view of him 

 again, he ran for the hedge with all speed. There was no wad- 

 dle in his gait, and I then saw that it was a wild bird. I fired 

 and ran up. The wounded bird flapped and tumbled about pre- 

 cisely as a cock does when its neck is broken and it is thrown 

 down to die. My heart misgave me ; I thought I had shot 

 some poor peasant^s fowl ; but I was wrong, every one I met 

 told me that it was a genuine wild fowl, and on carefully exa- 

 mining it I found it to be so. Unfortunately neither its hackle 

 nor its tail were fully developed. Its comb was small, and its 

 spurs wart-like. Its iris was orange-yellow. Skin under the 

 ear cream-white, purplish pink at its forward corner. Bill 

 ochi-eous, brown on culmen. Legs brownish-grey, tinged with 

 purple. Its intestines measured 3*5 feet ; and its stomach con- 

 tained sweet potatoes, vetches, and stone- grits. Its flesh was 

 juicy and delicious eating, and quite different in flavour from 

 that of the Barn-door. Its testes were of an enormous size ; so 

 that there can be no doubt the bird was breeding. On the 27th 

 of February I visited the same field again ; and on the same spot 



