2o8 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



slaty grey, irrespective of age, sex or locality. Iris light to rather deep orange-red. The 

 bare skin of the sides of the head, skin, throat and upper part of the neck in front, 

 smooth and of varying shades of red. The large erect comb, thin and deeply notched 

 above, and the two gular wattles vary from deep dull red to bright crimson. When 

 a large series of birds with definite locality labels is examined it is evident that the ear 

 lappets tend to be whitish or pinkish-white in Indian birds, and red, like the wattles and 

 comb in birds from Burma and the Malay Peninsula. The proportion is about forty 

 per cent, of each, leaving twenty per cent, which are neutral or actually negative. I have 

 seen many Junglefowl from Pahang, Johore and Java, which had the ear-lappets pearly 

 white, and, on the other hand, I have shot birds in southern Garhwal with the lappets 

 showing no trace of light colour, being indistinguishable in hue from the comb and 

 wattles, even w^hen these were very bright in colour. In northern Burma I have 

 secured two adult Junglecocks feeding together with several hens in a part of the jungle 

 far distant from any native fowl which respectively showed the two extremes in colour 

 of lappets. Where white is present, it is like enamel or polished ivory, and changes to 

 violet or blue where it merges into the red of the face or upper part of the lappet. It is 

 true that Indian birds, especially those from the dryer, semi-arid regions, are noticeably 

 pale, while the Junglefowl from the terai and the Malay States are richer, with the red 

 more brilliant. I do not, under the circumstances, however, consider it right to give 

 these subspecific designation. There is a small area in Pahang where the Junglefowl 

 are paler than any Indian birds, probably due to the infusion of some pale domestic 

 strain. And again we find many accounts written by sportsmen which present such 

 facts as those of Kelham in the ''Ibis "of 1882: "Whether or not the Malay species, 

 Temminck's G. bankiva, is really distinct from the Indian, it is hard to say ; but if it is 

 distinct, both kinds are certainly found in the Malay countries ; for while stationed in 

 Perak I shot, out of the same tract of jungle, unmistakable specimens of G.ferrugineus, 

 with the rich golden hackles and white ear-patches, also birds of far darker, in one case 

 almost black, plumage. But the wild Junglefowl interbreed so much with domestic 

 roosters from the villages, that I cannot help thinking these dark-coloured birds to be 

 the results of such intercourse, particularly as many of them, though very unlike the 

 typical G.ferrtigineus, are not like one another, varying much in the intensity of their 

 colouring." 



Weight, I lb. 12 ozs. to 2 lbs. 5 ozs. 



Length, 630 to 700 mm. ; culmen from nostril, 16 ; wing, 235 ; tail, 350 ; tarsus, 77 ; 

 middle toe and claw, ^^. Spurs averaging 33 mm., sharp, slender and much curved. 



VARIATION AND MOULT 



The hen-coloured game cocks are, of course, congenitally so coloured, but it is not 

 unusual, as in other true pheasants, for the cock bird ontogenetically to assume the 

 plumage of the hen. This is due to some injury to the sexual organs, and is one of the 

 most inexplicable phenomena known to science. Its solution will mark a decided step 

 in problems of evolution, and perhaps in the origin of life. Recent experiments by 

 Morgan have indicated that the sexual organs of the hen-coloured Sebright bantams 

 contain luteal cells which are usually characteristic only of ovarian tissue. This, together 



