190 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 
In appearance the eggs are, of course, like niniature hens’ eggs. The shell is smooth 
and fine of texture, with considerable gloss. Near native villages the shells partake of 
the character of those of the domestic birds. Usually they are of a pale buff or yellowish 
café au lait colour, sometimes paler, whiter, or again darker. In length they vary from 
4o to 53 mm.; and in breadth from 32 to 39. The average Red Junglefowl egg 
measures 46 by 35 mm. 
The period of incubation of Junglefowl is the same as in their domestic descendants, 
about twenty-one days, and the chicks are strong and very wild, able to leave the nest, 
to follow the parent and to hide at her command almost as soon as their down is dry. 
When the eggs of really wild birds are hatched under domestic hens, and the chicks are 
confined with other fowls, they will accept captivity in the end, and will remain and 
breed. But they always choose to roost in trees adjacent to or within the village, rather 
than spend the nights in coops, or on the rafters, or under the floor-beams of the 
Burmese or Malayan houses. If, however, the chicks are permitted at once to run in the 
jungle, they will drift away from the hen, and through fear will one by one be lost. 
Nevertheless, I repeat that it is most interesting that the chicks, or even the adults of 
real feral Red Junglefowl, unlike the other closely related species of Gallus, are sus- 
ceptible of what is practically domestication in one generation, unlike any other member 
of the pheasant family. In this it parallels the mallard duck, and to a less extent certain 
South American birds, such as the trumpeters, cariamas, and chachalacas. ‘These latter, 
however, refuse to breed in captivity, but within the space of their own life-time become 
perfectly tame, and accept man as protector and friend while enjoying full liberty at the 
very edge of their native jungle. 
The call-notes of the chicks and the warning and calls of the hens differ but little 
from the corresponding utterances of domestic birds. The cock, as far as I know, never 
goes near the nest, nor does he take any part in incubation, although he is frequently 
seen in association with the hen when she goes off to feed. When the brood is hatched, 
or at least when the chicks are a week or more old, the cock is found with them, 
scratching and helping to find food. This I have verified personally. When alarmed, 
however, he is the first to dash away, carrying out the rule of pheasants in general, that 
susceptibility to suspicion, fear, and flight is in direct relation to the excess of colour or 
conspicuousness of plumage. When threatened with danger the hen leaves her brood 
with a single cackle, sharp and incisive, which sends every chick to cover, where they 
remain motionless until they hear her reassuring notes. I once was fortunate enough 
to have a hen and her brood of four young pass close beneath the tree in which I was 
concealed on the watch for fireback pheasants. Some animal of which I could not catch a 
glimpse rushed suddenly through the ferns near by, and the hen rose and whirred 
swiftly into the jungle in the opposite direction. By my watch, over twelve minutes 
passed before the bird reappeared, although after the first rush there was no further hint 
of danger. Then she came silently, cautiously, picking her way back through the under- 
brush, strangely enough from the side whence the sound had come, having described a 
hemicircle in her flight and return. When a few feet away she uttered several low 
crooning notes, walking slowly, and before she disappeared I made out the forms of 
several of the little chicks. Where they had been or when they answered her reassuring 
call, I could not tell. Their markings and colours were perfectly protective; when 
