GREY JUNGLEFOWL . 245 
adjoining feathers. Flight-feathers brownish-black, the primaries faintly edged with 
pale grey, and the secondaries glossed with greenish. / 
Under-parts like the back, but with much more greyish-white on the fringes and 
shaft-stripes. Indeed, posteriorly, the black becomes restricted to two broad longi- 
tudinal bands. A patch of feathers on the sides of the belly and the flanks shows a 
tendency to form another zone of specialization, but here we find only an abundance of 
the orange-red pigment, with little or no cornification of the vane. 
Comb, wattles and bare skin of head, chin; and throat red, very intense at the 
season of courtship, and often extending far down the neck under the clothing of hackles. 
Upper mandible dark-brown or black, paler at the tip; lower mandible yellowish horn. 
Irides varying from clear red, through reddish-orange to yellow. When in full colour 
the legs and feet are salmon red, and the claws black. After death and at other than 
the breeding season, a yellowish hue predominates. 
Length, 700 to 800 mm.; culmen from nostril, 16 ; wing, 240; tail, 380; tarsus, 77 ; 
middle toe and claw, 64. Spur long, slender distally and much curved, 30 mm. in 
length. Weight 1 lb. 9 ozs. to 2 Ibs. 9°5 ozs. 
VARIATION AND ANNUAL MOULTS 
In examining a large series of skins, some from areas of dense, humid jungle, and 
others from semi-arid regions, I can detect no correlated difference in colour. I have 
already spoken, however, of the considerable variation in individual cocks, regardless of 
age or locality. This is most pronounced in the hackles, in which the terminal enamelled 
spot may be pure white or rich yellow ochre. Then, too, in cocks of equal age, the 
body plumage may sometimes lack the iridescent gloss, while the amount of white varies 
within wide limits. The absence of gloss and excess of white are also, however, marks 
of immaturity. 
In June or July, when the duties of the breeding season are quite over, the hackles 
begin to be dropped. ‘This moult of the hackles is of great interest as being an eclipse 
moult of short duration. From the forehead back to the lower neck, and around, almost 
meeting on the ventral part of the neck, the shed hackles are at once replaced with black 
feathers. Those on the head have white, hair-like shaft-stripes, while the larger ones 
are faintly glossed with purple. ‘There is absolutely no trace of the specialised waxy 
spots, and the whole aspect of the bird is altered. These black feathers are retained 
until the regular annual moult sets in, some three months later, when they, together 
with the entire body and wing plumage, are shed, and replaced with resplendent new 
feathers. The early shedding of the long, central tail-feathers is irregular. They are 
often broken off at this season after the wear and tear of the period of battle and of 
breeding, so that they do not project beyond the other shorter tail-feathers. In ten 
specimens in eclipse plumage, six had the feathers thus broken, and hence apparently 
moulted ; in two others they were present and full length, although much worn, the 
eclipse hackle plumage in this case already showing signs of being shed. In two other 
birds the central tail-feathers were shed; but so were one or two of the other rectrices 
adventitiously from one side, showing that the regular rectrice moult, from outside in, 
had not yet begun. Thus there seems no ground for belief in the widely-repeated 
