174 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 
the top of the ridge in the still early morning sunlight, I found me a lowly place beside 
a small fallen log. The wood upon which I rested was torn with the shot which had 
laid low a Horsfield’s kaleege two days before, when we needed fresh meat for the 
pot, but no pheasants were hereabouts this day. I idly watched a huge grasshopper 
creeping slowly up a dead sapling, and unconsciously made a sudden motion to brush 
away a cloud of mosquitoes which had found me out. At once a great outcry arose 
only a few yards away down the slope—a jungle hen had perceived that something was 
wrong on my side of the thicket, but whether a—to her—harmless water-buffalo or a 
real danger she evidently could not make up her mind. 
By hitching along and wriggling worm-like over a few feet of wet ground I came 
within sight of the bottom of the gully. Several large clumps of bamboo were browsed 
to hour-glass shape by the—to me—fearfully dreaded self-same buffalo. Just below the 
yellow-green foliage was a wallow, partly filled with water, and at the edge of this, 
scratching daintily in the damp soil, was my jungle cock of the mule-field and his 
mate. 
The cock allowed no fall of leaf or twig to escape him, and it was interesting to 
watch how, every second or two, he systematically swept the sky and the woods all 
about. The hen, evidently relying on his alertness, devoted all her attention to feeding, 
and her chuckle of content as she drew forth a large, protesting worm was delightful 
to hear. 
When a squirrel rushed through the bamboos and loosened a bunch of large leaves 
which eddied downward, the jungle hen gave her loud, strident cackle, cut! cut! cut ! 
cut ! cut-dd-cut! exactly as a domestic hen announces an egg. In this case it was 
a startled exclamation of suspicion, given rapidly and sharply. 
From some distance within the bog a forest cat was yowling querulously, but the 
junglefowl paid no heed until the sound ceased. Then, although they fed for a few 
minutes longer, much of their attention was concentrated in the direction from which 
the sounds had come. At last both listened intently, their heads drawn up to full 
height, and both started up the bank toward me. 
But, as so often before in my experience, the clan of wood creatures came to one 
another's aid in an eminently effective manner, although so wholly unconscious of any 
altruism. A wretched chocolate squirrel and a quartet of laughing thrushes made my 
ears tingle with their expletives. Scarcely had they begun their tirade at me when the 
junglefowl made a quick dash down one side of the gully and passed out of sight 
for ever. . 
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 
The present range of the Red Junglefowl is very extensive, but we must draw 
a sharp line between what appears to be the original area of distribution, and the 
recent extensions brought about by man. In northern India the bird extends along 
the terai and the southern outer ranges of the Himalayas, from the head of the 
Assam Valley beyond Sadiya, westward through southern Sikhim, Nepal and the 
Siwaliks of Garhwal to Kashmir. In the Punjab it occurs only in isolated, especially 
suitable districts, so sporadically, in fact, that the western extension from its more 
