VOI.. XXIX. No. 3. 
WnOLE No. 1251. 
NEW YORK AND ROCHESTER N, Y. JAN. 17 . 1874 . 
PRICE SIX CENTS. 
$2.50 PER YEAR. 
_ [Entered according to Act of ConrrosiOn the year 1671, by the Rural Publishing Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
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THE CEYLON JUNGLE FOWLS. 
The Jangle Fowl known to naturalists are 
four in number. The most familiar is the 
common jungle cock of India, jtho male of 
which closely resembles a small black-red 
gaum cock, but carries the tail more de¬ 
pressed, This species is known to naturalists 
as Gallus ferraginem, or sometimes as 0. 
bankiva. it is generally regarded as the 
origin of all our domesticated races of poultry, 
and breeds freely with the domesticated 
birds. It is tamed without difficulty. 
A second species is tlio G. Sonneratii, from 
the southern parts of India. The bird Is 
remarkably distinguished by the flattened 
shafts of the hackle feathers, which look as 
if covered with spots of yellow sealing wax. 
The species lius been frequently introduced 
into Europe, and has been bred, both purely 
and crossed with the common domestic fowl; 
but,* from want of fresh blood, the hybrid 
progeny haB been gradually lost ,in the vast 
numbers of domesticated poultry. The skins 
of the males are constantly to be seen in the 
shop windows of the fishing-tackle makers, 
as the spangled hackle feathers are in great 
demand for making artificial flies. A third 
species is the G.dllns f urea tux or Gallus 
varius, the cock of which is especially distin¬ 
guished by its hncklp feathers being broad 
and rounded at the tips, and of a splendid 
metallic green color. The saddle feathers 
are bright orange with a dark center, and 
the two central tail feathers are curved out¬ 
wardly, or forked ; hence the name of fur- 
catuH given to the species. Its comb is 
rounded in its general outline, and it has a 
single median wattle, instead of the pair 
which are seen in the other species, it comes 
from Java and some of the islands of the 
Malay Archipelago. 
The fourth species of jungle fowl is con¬ 
fined to the Island of Ceylon, and until the 
specimens now in the Zoological Gardens 
(London) were imported, had never been 
seen alive in this country. Immediately on 
their arrival there they were carefully figured 
as shown in our engraving. Mr. Holds- 
woimr, a gentleman familiar with these 
fowls in Ceylon says of these birds “They 
are, male and female, in wonderfully good 
plumage, except that the sickle feathers of 
the cock are wanting • the comb is not of 
quite so deep a red as i have seen it, but it is 
very nearly the right color, and the yellow 
wing-shaped spot in the center is conspic¬ 
uous.” A cock, eaten five or six hours after 
being killed, and in the tropics, is about the 
toughest bite I ever bad ; but a three-quarter 
grown bird killed on the Ceylon hills and 
hung for two days is as good Os a pheasant. 
There is no doubt that these birdB sometimes 
cross with the domestic breeds. 
The Ceylon jungle fowl is remarkable not 
only for beifcg peculiar to the island, but also 
for being common in all of it where the coun¬ 
try is uncultivated and there is jungle of a 
moderate hig ht. Although espeoially abund¬ 
ant in the low Country, it is often very 
numerous even on the upper hills, and is 
attracted to the particular localities where 
the “ ndloo” (the native name for some spe¬ 
cies of Strobilantbce growing at 5,000 feet 
and upwards) is at the time in seed. 
Mr. Holdsworth The following details 
wore taken from a fine adult cock I killed at 
Aripo, and were noted down on the spot. 
Bill brown, front of the lower mandible pale 
y*3llow; irides buff; comb, wattles, and 
naked skin about the head purplish red, the 
comb having a large wing-shaped spot of 
yellow occupying the middle of the posterior 
half, very bright at its origin immediately 
over the eye, and shading off at its margin 
into the color of the comb ; feet and legB 
pale yellow. 
Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier saysThe adult 
male (as may be seen by the engraving), 
differs from a small game cock chiefly in tlje 
fact that the striped and pointed feathers, 
which in the common species grow from the 
back of ; he neck only, spreading over the 
sides to urm the hackle, extend in t he Cey¬ 
lon bird over the breast, The central saddle 
feathers are broad, brilliant dark blue in 
color, and edged with a slight fringe of 
orange. The young cocks, in tlieir imma¬ 
ture plumage, resemble the hens, the second¬ 
ary wing feathers being barred transversely 
with bands of light and dark brown ; the 
neek feathers streaked. As they become 
older they gradually moult into the male 
plumage. The hens are more like black-red 
game than those of any other breed ; but 
the secondary flight feathers are distinctly 
marked with dark bars and light lairs alter¬ 
nately, and the breast, feathers have u light 
center and light margin, Tn the young 
chickens, when the size of a thrush, the 
three dark bands (one down the center of the 
bead, and the others running backwards 
from the eyes) are distinctly visible ; and in 
those that aiv still in the down, a dark band, 
bordered with a very pale narrow margin, 
runs down the back to the tail. 
W K give these facts concerning this fowl 
because we find there, is unceasing attention 
being paid to the improvement of this class 
of stock ; and because we believe that inter¬ 
mixtures often result in improvement. 
CEYLON JTTJNTG-ILE FOWLS, 
