49. 
GALLOPERDIX BICALCARATA 
(THE CEYLON'SPUR FOWL) 
ADULT MALE 
Length 13.6 to 13.8 Inches; wing 6.4 to 6.6; tall 4; tarsus 2 to 2.1; 
middle toe and olaw 1.6; bill to gape-.95 to 1; spur .5 to .7. generally two 
on each leg, sometimes three on one and two on the other. 
FEMALE 
Length 11.75 Inches; wing 6; tarsus 2; spurs .3 to ,5, one on each leg 
generally, sometimes two on one leg, and at times wanting on one. 
DISTRIBUTION 
The Spur Fowl is a bird or rather singular distribution in Ceylon, inhab¬ 
iting the damp jungles of the West and South-west, the forests of the Central. 
Province permanently up to an altitude of 4500 feet, and those of the South¬ 
ern ranges as well, likewise the Eastern Province jungles, but not the Nor¬ 
thern portion of the island. 
How far North of the Matale hills it extends I am unable to say; but I 
have myself not heard it North of Dambulla, or on the sea coast beyond the 
Virgel. On the Western side it is found in the Southern portion of the Ko- 
runegala district, straying as far North as Usweva, and about Ambepusse is 
not uncommon; further South it increases, and is round in various forests 
and jungle recesses in the Hewagam and Salplti Korales. In Saffragam and 
Pasdun Korales it is abundant, and extends in numbers throughout the wooded 
districts between Galle and the Southern hills, in which latter it is also 
common. Eastward of the Kolonna Korale it is rare. I heard it once on 
the banks of the Kirindi Ganga in the Wellaway Korale, but higher up on the 
slopes of the mountains it is again common. 
In the Friar’s wood jungles and about Pilgalla it is plentiful in parts, 
though not as widely distributed as 1 the damp woods of the Western dist¬ 
ricts. It is found more or less in all the jungles of the coffee districts 
and breeds about 6000 feet'in some parts; in the cool season it is found in 1 
the Newer A E'll la district, and very probably extends over all the plateau of 
the Horton Plains. It is very common in the Knuckles forests. 
HABITS 
The "Haban-Kukula*, so well known ifi Ceylon from its remarkable cackling 
note, is one of the shyest birds in the island, affecting the most entire 
concealment, and only emerging from the jungle in the early morning. It is 
