RED JUNGLEFOWL 185 



development of this phenomenon, while at the same time I wish to give full credit to the 

 bird for sheer bravery and extreme parental devotion. For while the action in itself may 

 not be voluntary, yet when it has failed, and the bird, as I have seen in the case of 

 many species, realizes that the danger is becoming acute, and she returns and actually 

 buffets the assailant — this, it seems to me, rises to the level of voluntary initiative. 

 The spasm has passed, and the bird, with all the strength and power in her body, strives 

 to divert attack from her offspring. 



I have never observed even a trace of this simulation of disability on the part 

 of domestic hens, so this must be a very recent acquisition in the Junglefowl, whereas 

 we all know of a hen's conscious bravery in the face of attack by hawk or dog. In 

 domesticity this latter trait is evidently of value, while the other ruse, like the power of 

 strong flight, is unnecessary, and hence has degenerated and been lost. 



We have seen that the distribution of the Red Junglefowl has been considerably 

 increased through the agency of man. Swinhoe has given us an account of his 

 finding the bird in the Island of Hainan. 



" 1 fully believed that Hainan would yield a pheasant of some kind, and I never 

 ceased inquiring of the natives whether ' Hill-fowl ' (the usual expression for pheasants) 

 were found among their woods. The reply was in the affirmative, and I eagerly 

 looked out for them. Judge my disgust, then, when I discovered that the wonderful 

 * Hill-fowl ' was only a wretched Junglecock. Though greatly disappointed, in heart 

 I was still pleased to make the acquaintance of a bird that I had not met before. 

 On the 1 8th of February I was rambling in the early morning at Shuy-wei-sze 

 (Central Hainan), and stepped through a hedge into a field, at the further end of 

 which was growing a patch of sweet potatoes. A rustic who was with me pulled me 

 by the sleeve and cried 'Twa-kai' (Hill-fowl). I turned, expecting of course to see 

 a pheasant. The clodhopper was pointing at an ordinary-looking rooster standing in 

 the middle of the field with body erect and tail decumbent. Seeing me take no 

 notice, the native cried out again, ' Shoot, it is a wild bird, and not a barn-door 

 fowl.' I looked again and saw the bird moving away behind a hedge. When I got 

 in view of him again, he ran for the hedge with all speed. There was no waddle 

 in his gait, and I then saw that it was a wild bird. I fired and ran up. The 

 wounded bird flapped and tumbled about precisely as a cock does when its neck is 

 broken and it is thrown down to die. My heart misgave me ; I thought I had shot 

 some poor peasant's fowl ; but I was wrong — every one I met told me that it was a 

 genuine wild fowl, and on carefully examining it I found it to be so. Unfortunately 

 neither its hackles nor its tail were fully developed. Its comb was small, and its 

 spurs wart-like. Its iris was orange-yellow. Skin under the ear cream-white, purplish 

 pink at its forward corner. Bill ochreous, brown on culmen. Legs brownish-grey, 

 tinged with purple. Its intestines measured 3-5 feet ; and its stomach contained 

 sweet potatoes, vetches, and stone-grits. Its flesh was juicy and delicious eating, and 

 quite different in flavour from that of the Barn-door. Its fes^es were of an enormous 

 size; so that there can be no doubt the bird was breeding. On the 27th of February 

 I visited the same field again ; and on the same spot where I first saw the cock, 

 appeared the hen. Several natives were with me. They shouted, ' Ho ho Taw-kai ' 

 (look, look I Hill-bird) ; and at the noise the hen rushed into the hedge, and we tried 



VOL. II B B 



