JAVAN JUNGLEFOWL 255 



parts of Java, seemed to have run the gamut of the vocal utterances of all the island 

 avifauna, from the hoarse croak of a cormorant to the scream of the peacock. The 

 Sudanese name for the Junglefowl is onomatopoetic, spelled in many different ways, 

 but most commonly Tjangehgar. To the natives the crow appears to sound some- 

 thing like tjang-eh-wear. This crow is three-syllabled, but with no decided break 

 or stop as in that of the common fowl. It is a high, shrill, metallic vocal explosion, 

 chaw-au-dwk I as well as I can write it. These syllables are the result of listening 

 to, and recording on the spot, the crows of about a score of wild birds. Usually 

 the notes are on one tone, sometimes an individual will slightly raise the last two 

 syllables, or all three may form a gradually ascending scale, separated hardly by 

 half tones. 



When neither rival nor hen is in sight, the tail droops even more than usual, 

 the body is held upright, the head stretched upward and forward, but with the 

 wattle only slightly extended. 



The Javan Junglefowl are strong on the wing, although, like the other species 

 of the genus, they will not use these organs unless forced to, but trust to their 

 swiftness of foot to take them out of any ordinary danger. Several times I have 

 cornered one or more birds on a steep cliff and made them fly into the valley. They 

 rise easily, beating rapidly at first and then descending in a long, scaling curve to the 

 fields below. In the case of the birds which roosted on the islet off shore, there was 

 a voluntary flight of seventy-five yards twice each twenty-four hours, over the shore 

 and the Water, sometimes against a stiff breeze, which made it necessary for the 

 birds to beat very rapidly and continuously the entire distance. 



The general carriage, of course, varies with the speed and the mood of the 

 bird. The tail is held much lower than in the domestic cock ; in the normal 

 walking position, the long central feathers sweep the ground, drooping on each 

 side, so as to hide completely the real tail-feathers. When running at full speed, 

 the head and tail are almost in alignment, the latter streaming straight out behind. 

 In crowing, the tail may be held fairly high or drooping, and when approaching a 

 rival, or beginning to display before a hen, this organ is raised to the usual carriage 

 in a domestic cock. 



Even a slight lowering or raising of the head makes a remarkable difference in 

 the general appearance, owing to the respective retraction or distension of the throat 

 wattle. The comb is, of course, always displayed, but whereas usually only a bit of 

 red skin is visible above the feathers of the neck, when the bird stands fully erect 

 the blue and yellow areas of skin become very conspicuous, equalling the scarlet of 

 the chin region in the brilliance of their hues. 



DAILY ROUND OF LIFE 



As in so many of the tropical pheasants, termites or white ants enter largely 

 into the diet of Javan Junglefowl. Every dry and rotted stump on the slopes of the 

 limestone ridges sheltered large numbers of these insects, a few pecks of the bird's beak 

 being often enough to expose hundreds. Four birds examined as soon as shot, collected 

 at different times and places, showed that they had been feeding as follows : — 



