458 
THE NATIVE PHEASANT. 
and at the last attempt came up in such a state of exhaustion that he refused to try again. 
But my interest was now too much excited to relinquish the opportunity of verifying the 
native’ s statement, and by the offer of an additional reward I induced him to try again. This 
seventh trial proved successful, and my gratification was complete when the native, with equal 
pride and satisfaction, held up an egg, and after two or three more attempts, produced a 
second ; thus proving how cautions we should be in disregarding the narratives of these poor 
children of nature, because they happen to sound extraordinary, or different from anything 
with which we were previously acquainted.” 
On one occasion, Mr. Gilbert caught a young Jungle Fowl in a hole, about two feet in 
depth, and the little creature, which appeared to be only a few days old, was lying upon some 
dry leaves. It was a wild and intractable bird despite its tender age, and though it was 
treated well and ate largely of the food with which it was supplied, it continued to be restless 
and uneasy, and in two or three days contrived to escape. Even at that age, it possessed 
the earth-heaping propensities of its kind, and used to be continually flinging about the 
sand which filled the box in which it was placed. Although so small a bird, not larger 
than young quail, it could grasp a quantity of sand, and throw it from one end of the box 
to the other, without apparently exerting itself, and was so constantly engaged in that 
occupation that it deprived its owner of sleep during the few nights that it remained in his 
possession. 
The same patient and acute observer gives the following account of the general habits of 
this species : — 
“The Jungle Fowl is almost exclusively confined to the dense thickets immediately 
adjacent to the sea-beach ; it appears never to go far inland except along the banks of creeks. 
It is always met with hi pairs or quite solitary, and feeds on the ground ; its food consisting 
of roots, which its powerful claws enable it to scratch up with the utmost facility, and also of 
seeds, berries, and insects, particularly the larger kind of coleoptera. 
“It is at all times a very difficult bird to procure ; for although the rustling noise pro- 
duced by its stiff pinions when flying away be frequently heard, the bird itself is seldom to 
be seen. Its flight is heavy and nnsustained in the extreme. When first disturbed, it 
invariably flies to a tree, and on alighting, stretches out its head and neck in a straight line 
with its body, remaining in this position as stationary and motionless as the branch 
upon which it is perched ; if, however, it becomes fairly alarmed, it takes a horizontal 
but laborious flight for about a hundred yards, with its legs hanging down as if broken. 
I did not myself detect any note or cry, but from the natives’ description and imitation 
of it, it much resembles the clucking of the domestic fowl, ending with a scream like that 
of the peacock. 
“ I observed that the birds continued to lay from the latter part of August to March, when 
I left that part of the country ; and, according to the testimony of the natives, there is only 
an interval of about four or five months, the driest and the hottest part of the year, between 
their season of incubation.” 
The coloring of this bird is simple, but the tints are soft and pleasing. The head is rich 
ruddy brown, the back of the neck blackish-gray, and the back and wings brownish -cinnamon, 
deepening into dark chestnut on the tail-coverts. The whole of the under surface is blackish- 
gray. The legs are orange, and the bill rusty-brown. 
PHEASANT, TURKEY, AND PEACOCK. 
The Leipoa, or Native Pheasant of the colonists, so called on account of the pheasant- 
like aspect of its head and neck, and the general outline of the body, is also an Aus- 
tralian bird, inhabiting the northwestern parts of that country, and the sandy plains of the 
interior. 
Like the preceding species, it lays its eggs in a mound of earth and leaves, but the mound 
is not nearly so large, seldom exceeding three feet in height and eight or nine in diameter, so 
