RED JUNGLEFOWL 175 



extensive eastern distribution takes the form of a long, narrow finger laid along the 

 southern Himalayan slopes. It thus rather closely parallels the range of the four 

 Himalayan species of kaleege pheasants. 



Although absent from the level, alluvial, semi-arid plains of Upper India drained 

 by the Ganges, it reappears to the south in the northern and eastern portions of the 

 Central Provinces and on southward as far as the Godavari River, especially toward 

 the east coast, thinning out toward the west, and finally disappearing as we approach 

 the line of central India. 



Eastward we find it common, throughout the hilly portions of Bengal, the 

 Sunderbans and the whole of Assam, including the Khasi, Garo and Naga Hills, 

 Cachar and Sylhet. The connection across the Ganges River is a rather narrow one, 

 as the bird is not found in the semi-arid parts of Behar to the north, nor in the 

 southern delta district. Still farther east we find its centre of distribution throughout 

 Burma, including Pegu and Tenasserim, western Yunnan, Siam, Cochin China, and 

 southward in the Malay Peninsula more particularly in the western half, and generally 

 distributed in the island of Sumatra. It is absent from the island of Singapore. 



In all this area I believe the Red Junglefowl to be more or less indigenous 

 with slight changes in the general contour of the range, but showing no radical or 

 important increases since mankind began exerting a direct effect on the environment 

 and range of the species. 



Severtsov and David state that the bird occurs in Western Turkestan. This is 

 an error, except as domestic fowls are found associated with the natives. As the 

 result of careful inquiry, I am very certain that the Red Junglefowl does not cross 

 the Himalayas at any point, neither into Persia, Yarkand, Afghanistan or Tibet. 



It is entirely absent from Borneo, but has been recorded as a more or less 

 feral inhabitant of Java, Timor, Lombok, Celebes, the Philippines, Balabac, Palawan 

 and Hainan. Also in many of the isolated archipelagos and islands of the South 

 Seas, such as Tahiti, Tonga, Viti, New Caledonia, the Great and Little Cocos, 

 Ponapd, etc. 



A few quotations giving the condition of the Junglefowl in some of these out- 

 lying islands, will be of value in supporting the supposition that they are all 

 domestic birds run wild. There is no question about this fact in such isolated 

 islands as Tahiti, but the fact of interest here is the apparent beginning of reversion 

 to the wild colour type. 



Tahiti 



''The common dunghill fowl is found wild in the forests here. Some of the 

 residents think it is a Junglefowl, peculiar to the country, but, upon examination, I 

 have not been able to perceive any material difference between it and the domesti- 

 cated bird, and therefore incline to the belief that it is the common species returned 

 to its original habits. In my excursions, I have killed about a dozen of them. 

 Their plumage is generally more rich and brilliant than that of the domesticated 

 bird, and there is not so much variety in the colour of different individuals. Their 

 flesh is exquisite. They are very shy, running away with singular rapidity, and 

 concealing themselves on the approach of the sportsman. When flushed, they fly 



