458 THE X ATI YE PHEASANT. 



and at the last attempt came up in such a state of exhaustion that he refused to try again. 

 But my interest was now too much excited to relinquish the opportunity of verifying the 

 native's statement, and by the offer of an additional reward I induced him to try again. This 

 seventh trial proved successful, and my gratification was complete when the native, with equal 

 pride and satisfaction, held up an egg, and after two or three more attempts, produced a 

 second ; thus proving how cautious we should be in disregarding the narratives of these poor 

 children of nature, because they happen to sound extraordinary, or different from anything 

 ■with which we were previously acquainted." 



On one occasion, Mr. Gilbert caught a young Jungle Fowl in a hole, about two feet in 

 depth, and the little creature, which appeared to be only a few days old, was lying upon some 

 dry leaves. It was a wild and intractable bird despite its tender age, and though it was 

 treated well and ate largely of the food with which it was supplied, it continued to be restless 

 and uneasy, and in two or three days contrived to escape. Even at that age, it possessed 

 the earth-heaping propensities of its kind, and used to be continually flinging about the 

 sand which tilled the box in which it was placed. Although so small a bird, not larger 

 than young quail, it could grasp a quantity of sand, and throw it from one end of the box 

 to the other, without apparently exerting itself, and was so constantly engaged in that 

 occupation that it deprived its owner of sleep during the few nights that it remained in his 

 possession. 



The same patient and acute observer gives the following account of the general habits of 

 this species : — 



"The Jungle Fowl is almost exclusively confined to the dense thickets immediately 

 adjacent to the sea-beach ; it appears never to go far inland except along the banks of creeks. 

 It is always met with in pairs or quite solitary, and feeds on the ground : its food consisting 

 of roots, which its powerful claws enable it to scratch up with the utmost facility, and also of 

 seeds, berries, and insects, particularly the larger kind of coleoptera. 



" It is at all times a very difficult bird to procure; for although the rustling noise pro- 

 duced by its stiff pinions when Hying away be frequently heard, the bird itself is seldom to 

 be seen. Its flight is heavy and unsustained in the extreme. When first disturbed, it 

 invariably hies to a tree, and on alighting, stretches out its head and neck in a straight line 

 witli its body, remaining in this position as stationary and motionless as the branch 

 upon which it is perched ; if, however, it becomes fairly alarmed, it takes a horizontal 

 but laborious flight for about a hundred yards, with its legs hanging down as if broken. 

 I did not myself detect any note or cry, but from the natives' description and imitation 

 of it. it much resembles the clucking of the domestic fowl, ending with a scream like that 

 of the peacock. 



" I observed that the birds continued to lay from the latter part of August to March, when 

 I left that part of the country ; and, according to the testimony of the natives, there is only 

 an interval of about four or five months, the driest and the hottest part of the year, between 

 their season of incubation."' 



The coloring of this bird is simple, but the tints are soft and pleasing. The head is rich 

 ruddy brown, the back of the neck blackish-gray, and the back and wings brownish-cinnamon, 

 deepening into dark chestnut on the tail-coverts. The whole of the under surface is blackish- 

 gray. The legs are orange, and the bill rusty-brown. 



PHEASANT, TURKEY, AND PEACOCK. 



The Leipoa, or Native Pheasant of the colonists, so called on account of the pheasant- 

 like aspect of its head and neck, and the general outline of the body, is also an Aus- 

 tralian bird, inhabiting the northwestern parts of that country, and the sandy plains of the 

 interior. 



Like the preceding species, it lays its eggs in a mound of earth and leaves, but the mound 

 is not nearly so large, seldom exceeding three feet in height and eight or nine in diameter, so 



