rat in jiiiitf ©wl 



o 



Gallus ferrugineus, Gmelin. 



Vernacular Names. — [Jungli moorghi, Bun moorghi, Upper India ; Bunkokra, 

 Bunkukra, Bun-kookoor, (Bengali, &c), Sitndarbans, Sonthal Country, Assam, 

 &*c. ; Natsu-pia (Bhutia), Pazok-tchi (Lepcha), Sikhim, Dudrs ; Beer-seem 

 (Koles) ; Gera-gogor (Gonds) ; Lall, Chanda District ; Tanquet, Tanghet> 

 Burmah ; Ayam-ootan, Malay Peninsula ; ] 



HE Red Jungle-Fowl is, as the latter portion of its 

 name imports, a true denizen of the jungle, and most 

 especially of jungle in the vicinity of scattered culti- 

 vation, at or near the bases of hills, which keep it 

 comparatively well watered throughout the year. 



It is entirely wanting in the dry, level, alluvial 

 plains and semi-deserts of Upper India, and even in 

 better watered localities is absent from the more richly culti- 

 vated tracts, and only straggles into cultivation which is in the 

 neighbourhood of jungle. 



It is more or less abundant throughout the lower ranges of 

 the Himalayas,* the Dhuns, Tarais, and submontane districts, 

 and the Siwaliks from the southern outer ranges of Kashmir 

 to the extreme head of the Assam Valley beyond Sadiya. 



Throughout the whole of Assam, including the less elevated 

 portions of the Garo, Khasi and Naga Hills, Cachar and 

 Sylhet, the whole of Eastern Bengal, including the Sunder- 

 bans, Arakan, Pegu and Tenasserim, it is in all suitable localities 

 common. Again, in all the hilly portions of Western Bengal, from 

 the Rajmehal hills, through Midnapore, and westward of this, 

 through the whole of Chota Nagpore, and the northern and 

 eastern portions of the Central Provinces, it is the only Jungle- 

 Fowl that is found. It is common along the Kymore range, and 

 extends northwards to the neighbourhood of Punnah and Chair- 

 khari, and southwards on to the Maikal or Amarkantak ranges. 

 Southwards and eastwards of these latter it occupies the 

 whole country north of the Godavari, Orissa, the Tributary 

 Mahals, Ganjam, Vizagapatam, and part of the Godavari Dis- 

 trict, Joonagurh, Kareall, Nowagurh, Jeypore and other Feuda- 



* It extends in places far into the interior of the hills along the valleys of rivers. 

 Thus Colonel Fisher writes : — "Last year, to my surprise, I came across several of 

 them in a low valley on the banks of the Nayar river in almost Central Garhwal, 

 and at a distance of some 30 or 40 miles from the foot of these hills !" 



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