174 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



the top of the ridge in the still early morning sunlight, I found me a lowly place beside 

 a small fallen log. The wood upon which I rested was torn with the shot which had 

 laid low a Horsfield's kaleege two days before, when we needed fresh pieat for the 

 pot, but no pheasants were hereabouts this day. I idly watched a huge grasshopper 

 creeping slowly up a dead sapling, and unconsciously made a sudden motion to brush 

 away a cloud of mosquitoes which had found me out. At once a great outcry arose 

 only a few yards away down the slope — a jungle hen had perceived that something was 

 wrong on my side of the thicket, but whether a — to her — harmless water-buffalo or a 

 real danger she evidently could not make up her mind. 



By hitching along and wriggling worm-like over a few feet of wet ground I came 

 within sight of the bottom of the gully. Several large clumps of bamboo were browsed 

 to hour-glass shape by the — to me — fearfully dreaded self-same buffalo. Just below the 

 yellow-green foliage was a wallow, partly filled with water, and at the edge of this, 

 scratching daintily in the damp soil, was my jungle cock of the mule-field and his 

 mate. 



The cock allowed no fall of leaf or twig to escape him, and it was interesting to 

 watch how, every second or two, he systematically swept the sky and the woods all 

 about. The hen, evidently relying on his alertness, devoted all her attention to feeding, 

 and her chuckle of content as she drew forth a large, protesting worm was delightful 

 to hear. 



When a squirrel rushed through the bamboos and loosened a bunch of large leaves 

 which eddied downward, the jungle hen gave her loud, strident cackle, cut ! cut I cut ! 

 cut I cut-dd-cut f exactly as a domestic hen announces an egg. In this case it was 

 a startled exclamation of suspicion, given rapidly and sharply. 



From some distance within the bog a forest cat was yowling querulously, but the 

 junglefowl paid no heed until the sound ceased. Then, although they fed for a few 

 minutes longer, much of their attention was concentrated in the direction from which 

 the sounds had come. At last both listened intently, their heads drawn up to full 

 height, and both started up the bank toward me. 



But, as so often before in my experience, the clan of wood creatures came to one 

 another's aid in an eminently effective manner, although so wholly unconscious of any 

 altruism. A wretched chocolate squirrel and a quartet of laughing thrushes made my 

 ears tingle with their expletives. Scarcely had they begun their tirade at me when the 

 junglefowl made a quick dash down one side of the gully and passed out of sight 

 for ever. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



The present range of the Red Junglefowl is very extensive, but we must draw 

 a sharp line between what appears to be the original area of distribution, and the 

 recent extensions brought about by man. In northern India the bird extends along 

 the terai and the southern outer ranges of the Himalayas, from the head of the 

 Assam Valley beyond Sadiya, westward through southern Sikhim, Nepal and the 

 Siwaliks of Garhwal to Kashmir. In the Punjab it occurs only in isolated, especially 

 suitable districts, so sporadically, in fact, that the western extension from its more 



