l6 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 



wanting in the hen, whose comb is also very small. 

 Even in the cock the comb, which is of the notched 

 ' ' single ' ' type so familiar in tame fowls, is not 

 so large a one as is carried by these latter. 



The cock's plumage is black below and orange 

 and red above, the neck and rump being covered 

 by long, loose-textured feathers called ' ' hackles ' ' 

 by fanciers. The tail, which has long curving 

 upper tail-coverts hanging along each side of it, is 

 glossy deep green, and the wings are a fine study 

 in the arrangement of plumage, being deep glossy 

 red, dark metallic green, black, and chestnut, put 

 together in a diagrammatic manner most useful 

 to ornithological students ; for the minor wing 

 coverts, the small feathers along the front edge of 

 the wing, are black, the median, red, the major, 

 metallic green, forming a conspicuous bar ; while 

 the primaries or pinion-qmiUs are dingy black with 

 paler edges and the outer halves of the secondaries 

 or forearm-quills are cinnamon. Thus, by getting 

 hold of a tame cock which shows the jungle-fowl 

 colours, and such are not at all uncommon, one 

 may master several technicalities with great ease. 



After breeding, the cock casts his long neck- 

 hackles and tail-feathers, the neck becoming clothed 

 with a short black feathering. It is somewhat 

 remarkable that no such change usually takes 

 place in the tame fowl, even in India. 



The cock is well over two feet long, with a wing 

 about nine inches and shank three inches. 



The hen is brown above, the colour being pro- 

 duced by a very fine pencilling of black and buff ; 

 below she is a plain reddish brown. Her neck, 

 which is covered with short hackles, is streaked 



