
Where dew is heavy, and succulent green food is to be found, 
these birds can go for long periods without recourse to other water 
sources but are inclined to prefer coverts where open water is available. 
Inquiry in the field and a search of the literature have 
uncovered no instance where the red junglefowl has seriously damaged 
standing crops or cultivated fruits. Although various authors note 
that rice, millet, mustard and wheat are preferred foods, cultivated 
grains were, surprisingly, found in but two of the 37 crops examined to 
date, though some birds were shot in or at field edges. Corn, also, is 
eaten where the fields adjoin funglefowl coverts, but most of the grains 
taken seem to be picked up from the ground following the harvest. 
General Habits 
Movements and Mobility 
Like most pheasants, junglefowl are nonmigratory and seldom 
move far from their home coverts. Nor is there much shifting of 
populations in winter, except when birds at higher elevations are forced 
into lowlands to avoid deep snow. 
No pronounced daily movement pattern has been observed. 
Some birds seem to prefer early mornings and late afternoons for excursions 
into open fields and cultivated areas; others scratch about on the forest 
floor in small parties. Edge cover or clumps of undergrowth within the 
forest are used as resting sites. 
These birds are good walkers. Unless surprised or hard 
pressed, many scuttle through the undergrowth by foot rather than fly 
to avoid danger. On the wing they are fast, direct fliers though 
seldom going over 300 to 500 feet from the point of flush before landing 
and continuing their way on foot. Many birds, once flushed take refuge 
in the branches of trees with such skill at concealment as to be 
difficult to locate again. 
Wariness 
Among many who have never hunted junglefowl there exists 
an impression that, since these birds are the progenitors of domestic 
poultry, junglefowl must be rather tame even in the wild. Nothing 
could be further from the truth. Though relatively unconcerned by tte 
wanderings of man about their domain, once they sense the element of 
pursuit they are as wary and cunning as the best of American game birds. 
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