JAVAN JUNGLEFOWL 



Gallus varius (Shaw and Nodder) 



Names. — Specific : varius, from the variegated character of the plumage. English : Green, Fork -tailed, or 

 Javan Junglefowl. French : Coq ayamalas. Native : Ajam oetan (Javanese Malay) ; Ajam alas, Pitte wono 

 (Javanese) ; Ajam leuweung (Sudanese) ; Baki koek, Bekikko (Javanese) ; Kasintoe (Sudanese). The two latter 

 names are also applied to Gallus gallus. Hybrids between Gallus varius and native poultry are known as Bekisar 

 or Kakok. 



Brief Description. — Male : Rounded comb green and purplish red ; single, median throat wattle 

 brilliantly coloured red, yellow and blue. Top of head, neck and upper mantle of short, square-tipped feathers, 

 black, edged with greenish-bronze ; lower mantle shining green, fringed with black ; lower back and rump 

 elongate, narrow feathers, black, edged with pale yellow ; lesser and median wing-coverts similar, but with an orange- 

 red fringe ; tail glossy green ; flight feathers and lower plumage black. Female : Head, neck and mantle sandy 

 brown, with an indistinct, concentric black band ; rest of upper parts black, usually glossed with green, irregularly 

 barred and margined with buff; bars on secondaries buffy white. Throat white, under parts pale buff with darker 

 margins and indistinct mottlings. 



Range.— The islands of Java, Madura, Kangean, Bawean, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Alor. 



THE BIRD IN ITS WILD HOME 



Three birds flying out to sea : such was my sensational first meeting with the 

 Green Javan Junglefowl, amid a scene of rare beauty — the perfect close of a tropical day 

 on the very north-east tip of the Javan coast. 



For hours I had motored over dusty roads in the shade of mile after mile of great 

 tamarinds, and now, in late afternoon, I was sitting spellbound by the beauty of the 

 sunset. I had camped on the tip of a little promontory jutting out into the Java Sea. 

 Behind was an all but impassable chevaux-de-frise of cactus, and overhead and on to the 

 east, rank after rank of feathery palms and bamboos. I was almost suspended in air, for 

 directly beneath me were great caves hollowed out by the water, in and out of which 

 dashed tiny swiftlets — makers of the edible birds' nests. Seaward lay fair gardens — 

 every limestone pool left by the tide a mass of colour, blossoming coral — pink, green and 

 brown ; great serpent starfish, like animated sessile Compositae ; wandering patches of 

 lettuce — the green-leafed nudibranchs. Beyond all this, five rows of great breakers 

 boomed on the waste of jagged rocks. 



On either hand a deep bay swept inward, tracing its lines by the white of the waves, 

 and to the west, just out of the path of the setting sun, a tiny islet of mangroves raised 

 its head bravely far from shore. 



Between the crashes of the waves I could hear the wheenk 1 of a Javan nighthawk, 

 the sharp twitters of the swiftlets, and now and then the plaintive whistle of a distant 

 sandpiper. A host of little bats appeared and gyrated about my head ; and then, high 

 up in mid-air, great flying foxes passed slowly over. Herons, no less graceful, began to 

 collect from far and near in threes and fives, flying low, and headed straight for the 



VOL. II 249 K K 



