220 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



carnivores, and especially the mongoose. I have more than once encountered one of 

 these latter animals stalking, as was I, a Junglefowl busy with its scratching. A 

 reliable observer told me that once when lying in wait for deer he had seen a mongoose 

 kill a hen Junglefowl and then make a systematic search for all her brood, four or fivQ 

 in number, of about two weeks' old chicks. 



The hearing and the sight of these birds is amazingly acute. They will become 

 suspicious at the least unusual rustle of an approaching footstep, while leaves and twigs 

 may be falling in all directions and the wind making sudden rustlings and noises, to 

 which they pay not the slightest attention. While the wild fowl in early morning come 

 occasionally out into the roads and trails, or venture into grassy glades, yet it is always 

 with an eye to cover. I have approached a crowing bird without attempting to conceal 

 the sound of my footsteps and had it retreat slowly before me for several hundred feet, 

 crowing from time to time as it went. In such a case one need never expect even the 

 slightest glimpse of the bird, as it cunningly keeps under cover or dodges behind some 

 intervening mound or grassy hillock. Of their preference for escape by fleetness of foot 

 rather than by flight I have already spoken. 



Junglefowl learn by experience to distinguish between degrees of danger. In a 

 place where one could be sure of finding a half-dozen birds along a mile or two of jungle 

 road in early morning, if I walked on foot the birds would dive into cover as soon as 

 ever they caught sight of me, even when still a hundred yards away. But going over 

 the same route in a bullock cart, and sitting under the cover alongside of the driver, the 

 birds would reluctantly leave off their feeding and walk into the undergrowth only when 

 we had approached within thirty or forty yards. They had evidently had occasion to 

 fear neither the slow-moving carts nor the bullocks nor drivers. 



In examining the specimens of Junglefowl which I shot day after day there came to 

 my notice evidence of a factor in the lives of these birds of which we know but little. 

 This was the mass of ticks which covered much of the combs of the birds. Parasites 

 such as these probably always cause great discomfort, and doubtless, in many cases, bring 

 death to a larger number of wild creatures than we realize. It is only by the close 

 examination of specimens as soon as shot that we can learn anything definite concerning 

 such phenomena as this, which may be of the utmost importance in limiting distribution, 

 both local and general, and in affecting the vitality of the individuals. In affected cocks, 

 the posterior and inferior borders of the comb were usually hidden by a mass of these 

 parasites. In one bird I took the trouble to count the ticks on one side, and found two 

 hundred and sixty-three, of all sizes and ages. When the ticks were removed by a wash 

 of formaline, this part of the comb was seen to be raw, and in one case a secondary 

 bacterial infection seemed to have set in. 



HOME LIFE 



The breeding season of this species has the tropical character of elastic limits, and 

 eggs seem to be laid during almost every month in the year. I doubt if the explanation 

 of two broods serves to account for this. A more reasonable interpretation might be the 

 destroying of many nests by enemies and the consequent delay in the nesting. February 

 to May seems to be the more usual period, but eggs in November and, on the other 



