742 GALLOPEEDIX BICALCAEATA. 



Young. In nestling plumage the sexes are alike, and resemble the female adult birds. 

 Iris brownish red ; bill dusky red, with dark tip ; legs and feet dusky red ; tarsus with blunt tubercles. 

 Head with fulvous centres to the feathers ; upper plumage ferruginous, mottled as in the female ; throat whitish. 

 Dn some young examples which I kept in confinement the breast was mingled with white feathers. The wing measures 

 during the first year from 5-5 to 6-0 inches. 



Obs. This species is distantly allied to the handsome " Painted Spur-fowl " of South India (G. hmulosas, Valenciennes), 

 which differs in the spotted character of its plumage and in not having the underparts marked with white. A 

 male example in the national collection measures 5-6 inches in the wing. The head, neck, and back are rich 

 ferruginous chestnut, each feather with a black terminal spot enclosing a white one ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and 

 inner tertials deep glossy brown, spotted with white; lesser and median wing-coverts richer chestnut than the 

 back, with greenish-black spots enclosing a white mark ; wings ferruginous brown ; tail blackish green ; chest and 

 breast fulvous buff, with blackish spots ; flanks deep chestnut, with black terminal spots, crossed by a black bar. 



Galloperdia: spadicms (Gm.), the Eed Spur-fowl, is found in the south of India ; wing 5-7 inches. The male is brownish 

 chestnut above, with pale edges to the feathers ; the female, which is a very handsome bird, is rufous buff above, 

 mottled with brown, and the feathers of the hind neck, back, and wing-coverts handsomely barred with very broad 

 bands of black ; fore neck the same ; the breast and flanks ferruginous, the breast-feathers with black crescentic 

 tips, and the flanks with mottled bars of blackish brown. 



Distribution. — The Spur-fowl is a bird of rather singular distribution in Ceylon, inhabiting the damp 

 jungles of the west and south-west, the forests of the Central Province permanently up to an altitude of 4-500 

 feet about, and those of the southern ranges as well ; likewise the Eastern-Province jungles, but not the northern 

 portion of the island. How far northward of the Matale Hills it extends I am unable to say ; but 1 have myself 

 not heard it north of Dambulla, nor ou the sea-coast beyond the Virgel. On the western side it is found in 

 the southern portions of the Kurunegala district, straying as far north as Uswewa, and about Ambejnissa is not 

 uncommon ; further south it increases, and is found in various forest and jungle recesses in the Hewagam and 

 Salpiti Korales. In Saffragam and in the Pasdun Korale it is abundant, and extends in numbers throughout the 

 wooded districts between Galle and the southern hills, in which latter it is likewise common. Eastward of the 

 Kolonna Korale it is rare. I heard it once on the banks of the Kirindeganga in the Wellawe Korale ; but 

 higher up, on the slopes of the mountains, it is again common. In the Friars-Hood jungles and about Nilgalla 

 it is plentiful in parts, though not widely distributed as in the damp woods of the western district. It is found 

 more or less in all the jungles of the coffee-districts, and breeds above 5000 feet in some parts; in the cool 

 season it is found in the Nuwara-Eliya district, and very probably extends over all the plateau to the Horton 

 Plains. It is very common in the Knuckles forests. 



Habits. — The " Haban-kukula," so well known in Ceylon on account of its remarkable cackling note, is 

 one of the shiest birds in the island, affecting the most entire concealment, and only emerging from the jungles 

 in the early morning. It is so wary that, although it may occasionally be surprised or heard close to a path 

 in the forest, it immediately becomes aware of the presence of the enemy, and runs off with great speed, 

 instantly disappearing in the thick jungle. It does not, however, confine itself entirely to forests, as I have 

 sometimes found it in Lantuna-scrub and detached copses in the south-west of the island ; and I have more 

 than once, by rushing into a small thicket with shouts, endeavoured to get it on the wing, but have alvvavs 

 failed, as it invariably escaped by darting through the grass and underwood on foot, and thus gained the main 

 portion of the jungle in safety. On the coffee-estates in the Central Province it comes out of the forest the 

 first thing in the morning, and feeds along the edge of the plantations in silence ; almost before the sun is up 

 it retreats into its native fastnesses, and about six or half-past commences to call. There is something highly 

 ventriloquistic in its note ; and this, combined with the birds moving about, as I believe they always do when 

 they are calling, makes it impossible to get near them by following the sound of their notes. These are given 

 out and answered by the cocks ; and if disturbed during the time they are cackling, they will wait a little, and 

 then recommence louder than ever. 



Layard writes as follows on their habits : — " After remaining some time concealed, if nothing occurs to 

 excite their fears, a cock-bird, bolder than the rest, will utter a few low notes, not unlike the plaintive cry of a* 



