JAVAN JUNGLEFOWL 251 
The sixth and last bit of dry land inhabited by the Javan Junglefowl is the isolated islet 
of Bawean, due north of eastern Java. 
Rather curiously, the distribution of this Junglefowl in the small island of Madura 
is similar to Java—the birds being found only in the eastern part. 
GENERAL ACCOUNT 
To the visiting ornithologist, Java is one of the most difficult countries in the East 
in which to get orientated for any definite work. The island is so densely populated 
that it would seem a matter of but a few casual inquiries to learn much of the habits, or 
at least of the haunts, of so conspicuous a bird as the Green Junglefowl. I had indeed 
no lack of proffered help, but all of so indefinite a nature that it was more of an 
embarrassment than assistance. The very names were most confusing, all, at various 
times and places, being interchangeable, both the terms for the red and the Javan 
Junglefowls and the hybrids between the latter and domestic poultry. When one was 
certain that one had mastered the local names for these species, an enthusiastic 
Dutchman or Javanese would go to great pains to point out some water fowl as the 
bird intended. Many well-intentioned people sent me such a résumé of the Junglefowl’s 
habits as the following : “They nest in holes in trees, laying eighteen eggs, white, spotted 
with red. The round eggs produce hens, the long eggs only cocks. They fight all day 
for their food. They never moult their feathers !” ! 
Our ignorance of the Javan Junglefowl has been so great that I was particularly 
anxious to make our knowledge of the life history of this interesting bird as complete as 
possible, especially as with the increasing density of population it cannot survive many 
more decades. In English ornithological literature we find practically nothing, and in 
the Dutch reports the facts are so vague or so conflicting that I have been able to place 
no reliance upon them. 
There is no doubt that the Javan Junglefowl does occur in the wooded mountains 
where I have myself seen it, but it is of uncommon occurrence, and this rarity is not 
because of the difficulty of finding it in the dense forests, but an actual status. In the 
interior a favourite haunt is a deserted coffee plantation, partly overrun with jungle. 
As we approach the drier coastal area, especially towards the east, the bird becomes more 
abundant, and in several different places, within sound of the waves beating on the coral 
reefs, I have found it in large numbers. In such localities one is at once struck by the 
general superficial resemblance between the country and the corresponding haunts of 
the Ceylon junglefowl. Here, in the region most favoured of the Javan bird, is no hint 
of jungle. Leaving behind the lofty, humid, dense-jungled mountains of the interior, 
we find a narrow coastal belt of low, rolling, or level country, covered for the most part 
with a stunted, semi-desert vegetation. So much alike is all this region, that an account 
of one locality, that in the vicinity of Patjiran, may well stand as representative of the 
typical home of this Junglefowl. 
My studies of this species began early in September. At this season the whole 
earth cried out for the rains which had not yet begun. The rainy season is usually 
November, December and January, but there is often more or less condensation 
of moisture in October. 
