CEYLON JUNGLEFOWL 225 



away, but as a whole these birds may be considered a negligible quantity in their 

 power to injure man's cultivations. 



The Junglefowl, from the variety of its food, has caused some sportsmen to 

 be enthusiastic over the delicacy of its flesh, while others describe it as tough, tasteless, 

 and scarcely edible. It seems, however, to be hardly worth shooting for the table 

 when doves can be procured. At any rate, that was my experience in south Ceylon, 

 and I have heard from many Europeans in various parts of the island that only 

 the natives find them worth eating. This fact, together with the religious aversion 

 of the Buddhists to taking life, are points in favour of the continued existence 

 of the Junglefowl for many years to come. While their feathers are sometimes 

 used in tying fishing flies, and occasionally exported for millinery purposes, these 

 uses do not threaten their extinction. 



In the recent game laws, the Junglefowl does not seem to be included in the 

 term "game," which embraces four species of deer, besides "peafowl, grey partridge, 

 painted partridge and Ceylon spur-fowl." We find them mentioned, however, in a 

 clause which reads : " Shooting at night and netting game or Junglefowl, unless 

 trespassing upon cultivated land, is prohibited under a penalty of one hundred 

 rupees, or three months, or both." So we find the birds totally unprotected by 

 law, and yet holding their own in most places. 



The natives of Ceylon have many ways of trapping Junglefowl, both by snares 

 and by spring-traps. The most effective method in use in the hill jungles is the 

 construction of a miniature fence of small sticks, nine or ten inches high and fifteen 

 or twenty yards long. Several gaps are left near the centre, six or eight inches 

 wide. For several days food is scattered about on both sides of the fence and 

 around the gaps. Then, when the birds become accustomed to feeding regularly 

 hair nooses, attached by a catch to a bent spring, are placed over the gaps, and 

 several birds are certain to be caught. 



Another native method of trapping is by the use of a net, about six feet high 

 and twenty yards long, which is stretched in a semicircle across a gully. When it 

 is in position, a score or more Singhalese form a line and work down toward the 

 gully through the jungle, noisily driving all the terrestrial birds and animals ahead 

 of them. In this way many species of small mammals and birds, including Junglefowl, 

 are entangled and captured. 



The most widespread way of shooting Junglefowl, practised both by Europeans, 

 Singhalese and Tamils, is to attract them by imitating the sound of the clapping 

 of the wings which often precedes the vocal challenge. When the sportsman has 

 made his way into a good position as close as possible to several crowing birds 

 without having aroused their suspicions, he crouches low on the ground and begins 

 to call. If a native, the hollow sound of the clapping wing, wop I wop! wop I wop! 

 is made by striking the thigh with the hollowed hand. Europeans produce an 

 imitation of equal excellence by making a pad of a pocket handkerchief, holding it. 

 in one hand, and striking it with the palm of the other, both hands being hollowed. 

 It is only when the cock thinks its preserve is being encroached upon, or if a 

 wandering, unmated bird be near, that it will heed the challenge. But when once 

 aroused, its anger increases as it approaches, and it is apt to burst into sight without 



VOL. II ^^ 



