22 THE DOMESTIC FOWL 



and towards the tip into a flat, horny, and very glossy 

 plate. In some of these feathers, the shaft takes an 

 elliptical or oar- like shape, in others it puts on the 

 appearance of a long inverted cone, from the centre of 

 the base of which a battledore-like process arises. The 

 effect produced by this expansion of the shafts is at 

 once singular and exquisitely beautiful. The feathers 

 of the middle of the back, breast, belly, and thighs, 

 are of a deep rich grey, with paler shafts and edges. 

 The tail is of a deep, rich, refulgent green, but the 

 feathers which immediately succeed the hackles of the 

 lower part of the back, and lie against the sides of the 

 tail, are rich purple with a pale-yellow edge ; those 

 next in succession are golden-green, with grey edges, 

 and all are glossed with brilliant metallic reflections ; 

 bill, legs, and toes yellowish. When seen in a bright 

 sunlight, the plumage of this elegant bird glitters like 

 gold, and presents a most rich appearance. 



The female is generally described as destitute of 

 those expanded ornaments to the hackles and wing 

 coverts, which are so conspicuous in the male. She is 

 less than the cock by about a third, without comb or 

 wattles, but a trace of nakedness round the eye. 

 Plumage without the horny structure which distin- 

 guishes that of the male. Upper parts uniform brown ; 

 neck feathers with dark edges ; those of the back and 

 wing coverts with a pale streak along the shaft ; and 

 those of the wings, tail coverts, and tail, waved and 

 mottled with darker pencillings ; throat and front of the 

 neck white ; feathers of the rest of the lower parts 

 greyish white, edged with dark-brown ; legs bluish- 

 grey. 



Under the term " Sonnerat's jungle fowl," two 

 species of jungle fowl appear to have been confounded 

 together at least, by most naturalists although there 

 can be no doubt of their real distinctness. Colonel 

 Sykes, speaking in reference to the Gallus sonneratii^ 

 says: "Very abundant in the woods of the Western 

 Grhauts, where there are either two species, or two 



