
THE KALIJ PHEASANTS 
Red junglefowl and kalij pheasants are presented in the 
same report for several reasons. Both are woodland birds whose range 
extends along the southern flanks of the Himalayas. From 2,000 to 
5,000 feet, in many places, they occupy much the same type of forest 
cover. From this belt upwards to 11,000 feet is kalij country; at 
the lower elevations one finds mostly junglefowl. Taxonomically they 
are also closely related. Both can easily be raised in captivity. 
The kalij pheasant, however, is more of a woodland bird, 
frequenting both edge and the deeper forest. Seldom is it encountered 
in cultivated fields or heavily pastured woods. The black-breasted 
kalij, for the most part, inhabits lowland valleys and adjacent uplands. 
Other Indian subspecies prefer mountain slopes, hillsides or roughly 
eroded areas, often deeply cut by wooded ravines, though in winter they 
are often found close by on wooded or bushy flatlands. 
Delacour (6) classifies the kalij pheasants in the genus 
Lophura in which he also places the silver pheasants, blue pheasants, 
firebacks, and wattled pheasants. Peters (9) following Stuart Baker (3) 
puts the kalij and part of the silver pheasants in the genus Gennaeus. 
Nor is there close agreement as regards species and subspecies. 
Delacour (6), whose classification is followed here, recognizes one 
species Lophura leucomelana with nine subspecies. These extend in 
range from the Indus in northern West Pakistan eastward along the 
foothills and lower Himalayas and south to southern Burma and western 
Thailand. Only four of these subspecies are abundant and widespread 
in northern India and are therefore considered here. 
Except for the junglefowl, no pheasant in India is as widely 
distributed or provides as much hunting as do the kalij. It is inclined 
to be slightly less wary than our common ringeneck but, living in much 
thicker cover where shooting is more difficult, it seems to withstand 
fairly heavy hunting pressure rather well. 
In general the kalij pheasant is likely to inhabit rougher, 
more heavily wooded country than the junglefowl. Also kalij normally 
are exposed to more snow and to colder temperatures. 
It would seem that the highlands from West Virginia and 
Kentucky south, the Ozarks, parts of western Oregon and Washington, 
and some of the uplands in Hawaii might offer conditions not too different 
from those found in the range of the white-crested kalij in India. 
Another subspecies, the black-breasted kalij, might be worth a trial 
in the forested, less rugged parts of the deep South. 
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