WILD FOWL. 



91 



THE FIRE-BACKED JTNGLE HEN. 



be heard on every side around, and yet such is 

 their cunning and keenness of sight, that the 

 sportsman, unless he is well acquainted with 

 their habits, is often disappointed in his attempts 

 to get a fair shot. 



THE FIRE-BACKED JUNGLE HEN. 



The hen has her plumage of a rich cinnamon- 

 brown, the feathers of the upper parts being 

 slightly mottled with black ; the throat is white, 

 and the feathers of the under parts, which are 

 paler than those of the back, are edged with 

 white ; head crested ; tail folded as in the 

 t'owls. 



This species is a native of Sumatra, and was 

 i'rst introduced to science by Sir G. Staunton, in 

 rhe narrative of his " Embassy to China." His 

 host at Batavia, among other interesting speci- 

 mens of natural history, possessed one of these 

 birds, which was presented to Sir G. Staunton ; it 



was sent to England and described by Mr. Shaw. 

 As its tail was mutilated, the figure is so managed 

 as to leave the form of the tail undetermined. 

 The bending feathers of the tail are shorter and 

 much broader than those of the Bankiva, Son- 

 nerat's, or the domestic fowls. 



THE AUSTRALIAN JUNGLE FOWL. 



Mr. Gould, an English naturalist, in his able 

 work on the " Birds of Australia," gives an in- 

 teresting account of this bird, which in size is 

 about that of a common fowl, and must not be 

 confounded with the Jungle cock of India, a very 

 different bird. Its mode of constructing it- 

 mound-like nest, and its manner of depositing 

 the eggs, etc., very much resemble those of the 

 bush turkey (Talegalla), hereinafter described. 



" The Jungle fowl," we learn, " is almost ex- 

 clusively confined to the dense thickets imme- 

 diately adjacent to the sea-beach; it appears 



