RED JUNGLEFOWL 187 



manoeuvres themselves are not of the highest order, corresponding to the first stage 

 — the lateral display — of such birds as peacock pheasants and tragopans. 



The assertion has been often made and with some truth that some of the court- 

 ship attitudes are similar to those assumed in fighting, the intention of the assertion 

 being to belittle any specialized effort on the part of the male to catch directly the 

 eye of the hen. This statement is now quoted and repeated in the most sweeping 

 manner by every dilettante writer on birds, until it requires some refutation to bring 

 it within logical bounds. The lateral display of the Junglefowl has nothing to do 

 with the fighting position of these birds, which is essentially frontal. Even when 

 two cocks are approaching one another and circling for an opening, the resemblance 

 between the two motor phenomena is extremely remote. 



The nodes of brilliant plumage in the wild Junglecock are on the back, wings 

 and tail. Hence it is these areas which are of prime importance in courtship display. 

 The dull under-parts are concealed. The bird endeavours to manoeuvre into a 

 position almost in front of the hen, and then to render himself as asymmetrical as 

 possible. The inner wing and tail is spread and lowered almost or quite to the 

 ground. The back is slanted and the inner side depressed as much as possible. 

 The hackles are raised and spread a little, hanging far down on the side toward the 

 hen. When the extreme posture is assumed, the bird takes short, rapid steps in a 

 half circle, bringing up on the opposite side. After a few seconds of quiet, he may 

 retrace his steps and make a return circle, displaying the beauties of the opposite 

 side, or, if the hen has advanced, he may walk quietly around behind her and display 

 again from the same side. In any case we are reminded strongly of the display of 

 the golden pheasant. I have seen this courtship on the part of a wild bird, when 

 it had no inkling of my presence, and although I have watched many domestic cocks 

 going through the same performance, it has, even at its best, lacked the patience, 

 the thoroughness and the vigour of the courtship of the wild bird. 



Junglefowl are notoriously pugnacious. This is attested by the great length of 

 spurs and indirectly by the hackles, which appear to function especially as a protective 

 ruff or a false shield. The beak-to-beak position of the fighting birds is well known to 

 every one, and at such a time the hackles are erected until they form a perfect halo about 

 the head, hiding from view all the vulnerable parts of the body. 



Hume has an interesting note about the combats and fighting arenas of wild Jungle- 

 cocks. He says, '' No one especially notices the extreme pugnacity of these birds in the 

 wild state, or the fact thai where they are numerous they select regular fighting-grounds 

 much like ruffs. 



"Going through the forests of the Siwaliks, in the north-eastern portion of the 

 Saharanpur district, I chanced one afternoon, late in March, on a tiny open grassy knoll, 

 perhaps ten yards in diameter and a yard in height. It was covered with close turf, 

 scratched in many places into holes, and covered over with Junglefowl feathers to such 

 an extent that I thought some Bonelli's eagle, a great enemy of this species, must have 

 caught and devoured one. Whilst I was looking round, one of my dogs brought me 

 from somewhere in the jungle round a freshly-killed Junglecock, in splendid plumage, 

 but with the base of the skull on one side pierced by what I at once concluded must 

 have been the spur of another cock. I put up for the day at a Bunjara Perow, some two 



