THE RED JUNGLE-FOWL. 2IO, 



North-West Provinces, though it occurs in the hilly southern por- 

 tions of the Mirzapore District. Further, it is wanting through- 

 out the major portion of the deltaic districts of Lower Bengal, 

 and in Behar except in the northern submontane tracts. 



Outside our limits, the Red Jungle-Fowl occurs throughout 

 the western half of the Malay Peninsula, right down to Johore 

 at its southernmost extremity, and it is also common to this 

 day in all suitable localities in the jungles of Sumatra. 



It does not occur in Borneo, and I very much doubt whether 

 its natural range extends beyond Sumatra in this direction. 



But it is claimed as an inhabitant of all kinds of other 

 localities, Java, Timor, Lombok, Celebes, the Philippines, and 

 Hainan, those from the latter belonging to the Indian, from 

 all the former to the Malayan and Burmese race. 



My belief is that into all these localities they have been 

 imported. All over the Malay Peninsula and India, domestic 

 fowls are to be seen barely distinguishable from the Red Jun- 

 gle-Fowl of these countries, and there can be no doubt that 

 any such which ran wild would very soon, in the face of an 

 environment similar to that of their original habitat, revert 

 to the wild type. Nothing can be more certain than that the 

 fowls on the Great and Little Cocos must have been introduced, 

 yet they are now perfect Gallns ferrugineus. Similar Jungle- 

 Fowl occur at Tahiti, and it is said other islands in the South 

 Seas, and the Bonin Isles, which no one can accept as being 

 within the possible natural range of this species. 



Then again Severtsov enumerates them as occurring through- 

 out Western Turkestan. I cannot ascertain, from the abstract 

 translation of his work which appeared in the Ibis, whether he 

 means that they are wild there ; but if so, they have certainly rim 

 wild. They do not cross the Himalayas ; they do not occur in 

 Yarkand, in Kabul or Persia, and Turkestan cannot possibly be 

 included within their natural range. 



On the other hand, they do occur in the westernmost portions 

 of Siam, and not improbably spread throughout this latter 

 country into Cochin-China. 



I have referred to the Indian and Burmo-Malayan races 

 of this bird. The plumage of the latter is said to be redder, 

 and taking a large series, there seems some truth in this, though 

 individual birds from Dehra Dun and Johore, for instance, 

 can be entirely matched as regards plumage, but in the Bur- 

 mese and Malayan birds, the small ear lappet is invariably red, 

 whereas in the Indian it is almost equally invariably white or 

 pinky white. 



Vertically this species ranges from sea level to 5,000 feet 

 elevation, but like many other species they are generally to be 

 found lower down in the cold season, and are rarely to be met 

 with above 3,000 feet, except during the hot season. 



