GREY JUNGLEFOWL 237 



make out. When put up by an enemy they go off with a loud, frightened kakakakakak ! 

 with the a as in the word "that." This outburst is often continued until they alight 

 in a distant part of the jungle. 



There is nothing of especial interest about the gait of these birds, which differs in 

 no respect from that of other Junglefowl. The tail is carried low, except when the bird 

 is courting, or approaching a rival. When it runs at full speed the tail fairly trails 

 and the head is also lowered until in a straight line with the body. When listening 

 for danger, the bird stands so erect that the line of its neck and back is almost vertical, 

 the longer tail-feathers pressing against the ground. The flight is rapid and strong. 

 When thoroughly alarmed by the sudden appearance of a sportsman, the birds will 

 often run with head and tail held low, dodging about any convenient tufts of vegetation, 

 until at some distance, when they rise with rapidly beating wings and fly for several 

 hundred yards before seeking safety in some dense bit of jungle. 



DAILY ROUND OF LIFE 



Grey Junglefowl come into the open, as upon roads, or at the edge of fields, or in 

 open patches in the jungle itself in early morning, retiring to cover as the heat increases. 

 During mid-day they remain quietly on the ground or on low branches, seeking food 

 rather casually, preening their plumage, or indulging in the luxury of dust baths. 

 Toward evening they again resume activity, coming again into the open, or descending 

 to some favourite stream to drink. In cloudy weather, however, they move about in 

 the open throughout the day. 



The food of the Grey Junglefowl is varied in character, consisting in general of 

 various seeds and grain, small fruits and berries, with occasionally leaves and flower 

 petals, while insects of almost any order, but especially termites, are acceptable. 

 Sometimes their crops will be crammed with nothing but grass seeds, or again millet 

 from the fields of the natives, or after land has been burnt over, they enjoy the tender, 

 juicy shoots of the newly-sprouted grass. 



They roost in trees, and when deer-hunting at daylight sportsmen have often 

 flushed them from their perches. They usually select some bent bamboo stalk, or again 

 frequent a clump of dense evergreens, perching high up and always in thick jungle. 

 One correspondent writes me that they always perch singly, even although there may 

 be several in the same tree or in neighbouring ones. 



It is the impression of some observers that the Grey Junglefowl are less courageous 

 than the red species. "They are so extremely wary," to quote Davidson, "where birds 

 and animals of prey are concerned, and wander such short distances from the edges of 

 cover, that I think very few of them fall victims to any enemy but man. There are 

 plenty of the Bonelli eagles and some hawk-eagles too in the Nilgiris, but I do not 

 think that these ever succeed in capturing Grey, as they do elsewhere red, Junglefowl ; 

 at any rate, I have never once seen the feathers of sonnerati strewed about, as I have 

 those of ferrugineus in Burma." It is probable that this is an error, and I see no 

 reason to think that they enjoy any greater immunity from attack than any other species 

 of bird living under corresponding conditions. In fact the proclivity of red junglefowl 

 to live in the vicinity of native villages, and their consequent familiarity with mankind, 



