GALLUS SONNERATI. 



(Sonnerat's Jung-le-fowl.) 



Coq sauvage des Indes, Sonn. Voy. Ind. ii. p. 153, pi. xciv. (1782). 



Poule sauvage des Indes, id. t.c. p. 160, pi. xcv. (1782). 



Wild Cock, Lath. Gen. Synopsis, ii. pt. ii. p. 698 (1783). 



Phasianus g alius, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 737. no. 1 (1788).— Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 625 (1790). 



Gallus sonneratii, Temm. Pigeons et Gallin. hi. p. 659 (1815).— Id. PI. Col. v. pis. 232, 233 (1825).— Gray, Gen. 

 B. iii.p. 499 (1845).— Blyth, Ann. Nat. Hist. xx. p. 389 (1847) — Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 243 

 (1849).— Burgess, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 29.— Bp. Comptes Rend. 1856, p. 879— Sacc, Rev. et Mag. de 

 Zool. 1862, p. 11, pi. hi.— Sclater, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 122.— Gray, List Gallinse Brit. Mus. p. 39 (1863). 

 — Jerd. Birds of India, hi. p. 539 (1864).— Elliot, Monogr. PhasianidEe, ii. pi. xxxiv. (1872). 



Phasianus indicus, Leach, Zool. Misc. ii. p. 6, pi. 61 (1815). 



Although this bird has been known to science for so many years, our information respecting it cannot be 

 called extensive ; and the notes which Mr. Elliot published in his ' Monograph ' still contain nearly the 

 whole of it. I therefore transcribe from his book the following observations : — " This, the handsomest 

 of the Jungle-fowl, is found in the southern part of India ; and by the singular spots upon the hackles, 

 as though yellow sealing-wax had been dropped upon them, it is easily distinguished from all the other 

 members of the genus. For a description of its habitat, as well as some interesting remarks on its mode 

 of living, I quote from Jerdon : — ' This handsome Jungle-fowl is found in Southern India only, extending 

 on the east coast to a little north of Godavery, in Central India, to the Pachmarri or Mahadeo hills, north 

 of Nagpore, and on the west coast to the Rajpeehla hills, where it meets the Red Jungle-fowl. Its 

 occurrence on the Pachmarri hills is most probably its eastern extension from the Western Ghats and the 

 Rajpeehla hills ; and it will probably be found all along the Sathpoora range. I do not know of its 

 occurrence east of the Mahadeo hills, till the neighbourhood of the lower part of the Godavery is reached. 

 It is very abundant on the Malabar coast, especially in the more elevated districts, as in the Wynaad, and it 

 ascends to the summit of the Neilgherries ; it is also common in suitable localities on the Eastern Ghats, 

 and in the various ranges in the south of India. It is not rare in the Naggery Hills, near Madras, and 

 is constantly brought for sale to the Madras market. 



"'Like Gallus ferrugineus it is particularly partial to bamboo jungles. Early in the morning, through- 

 out the Malabar coast, the Wynaad, &c, Jungle-fowl may always be found feeding on the roads ; and 

 with dogs you are certain of getting several shots on the roadside, the birds perching at once on being 

 put up by dogs. In some districts where they can be beaten out of the woods, and especially on the 

 Neilgherries, very pretty shooting is to be had at this Jungle-cock, the sharply defined woods (or sholas, as 

 they are called) being well adapted to being beaten for game. The hen lays from February to May, 

 generally having from seven to eight eggs of a pinky cream-colour, under a bamboo clump. The call of 

 the cock is very peculiar, being a broken and imperfect kind of crow, quite unlike that of a Red Jungle- 

 cock, and impossible to describe.' 



"Mr. Blanford, in a communication to the Journal of the Asiatic Society upon the geographical distri- 

 bution of the Red and Sonnerat Jungle-fowls, says : — ' I regret very much having been the means of 

 misleading Dr. Jerdon as to the distribution of the Red Jungle-fowl. I had been told by two different 

 observers that they had seen and shot Jungle-fowl, exactly like the common Barndoor-fowl, in and near the 

 Rajpihla hills ; and a third had assured me that he had seen specimens of two different kinds from the 

 same neighbourhood. I have now been through the Rajpihla hills, and the Western Satpooras pretty 

 thoroughly, and I am convinced that the only Jungle-fowl inhabiting those ranges is Gallus sonnerati. This 

 species is also found north of the Nerbudda, in the jungles east of Baroda, around Chota Oodipoor ; but 

 how far it extends to the north and north-west I cannot say. It is not improbably to be found in the 

 Aruvelli range, and perhaps Mount Aboo. It occurs throughout the Satpoora hills, north of Kandesh, 

 and, indeed, throughout the Taptee valley. Further south I have recently shot it in the jungles just east 

 of Chanda. Jerdon mentions its occurrence at Pachmurri, where, however, I learn from Lieut. J. Forsyth 

 that G. ferrugineus also occurs. Lieut. Forsyth adds that the two kinds of Jungle-fowl meet on the plateau 

 at Pachmurri, and he has shot both there.' " 



