Jungle Fowls 313 



Pheasant, the male, to quote from Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, has the top of the head, 

 crest, and rump brilliant golden yellow, the square-tipped cape-like feathers cover- 

 ing the back of the neck brilliant orange, tipped and banded with black glossed 

 with steel-blue, while the throat and sides of the head are pale rust-color 

 the shoulder-feathers and remainder of under parts crimson-scarlet, and the 

 iddle tail-feathers black with rounded spots of pale brown; the tail is twenty- 

 ven inches out of a total length of about forty inches. The female, which lacks 

 the crest and ruff, is largely brown, mottled and barred with black and buff. 

 Lady Amherst's Pheasant is considerably larger, the male attaining a total 

 length of fifty inches, and is further distinguished by having the crest blood-red, 

 the cape-like feathers pure white, margined and barred with black, and the mantle 

 and chest dark green. As both these species stand confinement fairly well, they 

 are often seen in aviaries, but in a wild state they are but little known. They 

 interbreed freely, and the Golden Pheasant has been known to cross with the com- 

 mon domestic fowl and the Common and Reeves's Pheasant, the latter hybrid 

 being an especially handsome bird, "with almost the entire plumage dull purplish 

 Indian-red." 



The Jungle Fowls (Callus], of which four very distinct species are recognized, 

 are natives of the dense jungles of the Indo-Malayan region and adjacent islands, 

 and, as is perhaps well known, exhibit quite marked differences from the other 

 members of the group, the males being provided with a high, fleshy comb along 

 the middle of the head from the base of the bill backward, the margin being 

 either serrated or entire. The chin, throat, and sides of the head are naked, the 

 throat below the eyes being provided with two wattles, or a single one in the 

 Javanese species, while the legs are furnished with long, sharp spurs. The 

 plumage is of brilliant colors and the feathers mostly hackled, that is, long and 

 pointed at the tips. The females, however, are plainer in plumage and lack the 

 wattles, while the comb is rudimentary. In their native haunts the Jungle 

 Fowls exhibit many of the characteristics so familiar to us in the domestic fowls ; 

 thus the males crow, and the females cackle on leaving the nest, a procedure 

 sounding very strangely coming from the wild jungle. Although they may be 

 quite abundant in a locality, they are very difficult to catch sight of, as they run 

 with astonishing swiftness through the mazes of the dense vegetation, only rarely 

 taking to wing. The cocks often engage in fierce battles, resorting, it is said, to 

 certain secluded spots in the jungle, and not infrequently these encounters end 

 in the death of the vanquished. The nest is a simple hollow scratched in the 

 earth, and the eggs, like miniature hens' eggs, are from five to nine in number. 

 The birds are omnivorous feeders, living on seeds, grasses, insects, and worms. 

 The Red Jungle Fowl (Callus gallus] is said to be the original whence all the 

 domestic breeds of poultry have been derived. It is a native of northeastern and 

 central India, ranging south through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and east 

 through Siam to Cochin-China. The male has the long hackles covering the 

 mantle and rump orange-red or yellowish orange, with the breast black, slightly 

 glossed with green. The domestic varieties are almost infinite, and so unlike the 

 original as to retain little resemblance to it, one of the most remarkable being a 



