JAVAN JUNGLEFOWL 251 



The sixth and last bit of dry land inhabited by the Javan Junglefowl is the isolated islet 

 of Bawean, due north of eastern Java. 



Rather curiously, the distribution of this Junglefowl in the small island of Madura 

 is similar to Java — the birds being found only in the eastern part. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



To the visiting ornithologist, Java is one of the most difficult countries in the East 

 in which to get orientated for any definite work. The island is so densely populated 

 that it would seem a matter of but a few casual inquiries to learn much of the habits, or 

 at least of the haunts, of so conspicuous a bird as the Green Junglefowl. I had indeed 

 no lack of proffered help, but all of so indefinite a nature that it was more of an 

 embarrassment than assistance. The very names were most confusing, all, at various 

 times and places, being interchangeable, both the terms for the red and the Javan 

 Junglefowls and the hybrids between the latter and domestic poultry. When one was 

 certain that one had mastered the local names for these species, an enthusiastic 

 Dutchman or Javanese would go to great pains to point out some water fowl as the 

 bird intended. Many well-intentioned people sent me such a rdsum^ of the Junglefowl's 

 habits as the following : "They nest in holes in trees, laying eighteen eggs, white, spotted 

 with red. The round eggs produce hens, the long eggs only cocks. They fight all day 

 for their food. They never moult their feathers ! " 



Our ignorance of the Javan Junglefowl has been so great that I was particularly 

 anxious to make our knowledge of the life history of this interesting bird as complete as 

 possible, especially as with the increasing density of population it cannot survive many 

 more decades. In English ornithological literature we find practically nothing, and in 

 the Dutch reports the facts are so vague or so conflicting that I have been able to place 

 no reliance upon them. 



There is no doubt that the Javan Junglefowl does occur in the wooded mountains 

 where I have myself seen it, but it is of uncommon occurrence, and this rarity is not 

 because of the difficulty of finding it in the dense forests, but an actual status. In the 

 interior a favourite haunt is a deserted coffee plantation, partly overrun with jungle. 

 As we approach the drier coastal area, especially towards the east, the bird becomes more 

 abundant, and in several different places, within sound of the waves beating on the coral 

 reefs, I have found it in large numbers. In such localities one is at once struck by the 

 general superficial resemblance between the country and the corresponding haunts of 

 the Ceylon junglefowl. Here, in the region most favoured of the Javan bird, is no hint 

 of jungle. Leaving behind the lofty, humid, dense-jungled mountains of the interior, 

 we find a narrow coastal belt of low, rolling, or level country, covered for the most part 

 with a stunted, semi-desert vegetation. So much alike is all this region, that an account 

 of one locality, that in the vicinity of Patjiran, may well stand as representative of the 

 typical home of this Junglefowl. 



My studies of this species began early in September. At this season the whole 

 earth cried out for the rains which had not yet begun. The rainy season is usually 

 November, December and January, but there is often more or less condensation 

 of moisture in October. 



