34 LOTSY AND KUIPER, A PRELIM. STATEMENT OF THE RESULTS OF MR, 
laid by the same species of bird. At one extreme we have an egg of a 
long, oval, shape, with a pale creamy-white shell like that of a domestic 
hen; the other extreme shows a broad oval, of a deep rich buff or café au 
lait, and a course texture, deeply and densely pitted, like the shell of a 
pea-hen’s egg. Every intermediate type is met with, some of which 
are everywhere thickly speckled with brownish red. 
The eggs vary from 43 to 51 mm. in length, and 31 to 38 in breadth, 
averaging 47 by 34mm. In the North two seems to be the usual number 
of young reared to maturity, while in the south families of 4 and six ha- 
ve been observed. About June or July the old cocks begin to moult their 
hackles, and, possibly, sometimes their longest tailfeathers, the former 
being replaced at once by a short temporary plumage. Later in the year 
these short eclipse feathers are replaced with the resplendent whitish 
or yellow, hackles, and by October the bird is in perfect feather and 
clears his throat for the first challenge. 
Natives capture the Grey Junglefowl by pegging out decoy birds and 
by shooting or trapping. The hackles are valued by the makers of artifi- 
cial flies for fishing and great quantities are exported to Europe for that pur- 
pose; in the Ghats their numbers have been greatly decimated by the 
natives, white sportsmen obey the law which prohibits Junglefowl 
shooting from April 1 to September 30. 
The best time for shooting Grey Junglefowl is from November to 
the end of March, as during that time their plumage is in the most per- 
fect condition. Indeed the birds are worth little else than the beauty of 
their feathers, for the flesh is very dry and hard, they never seem to be- 
come fat, not even when food is super-abundant on account of their 
weariness. DAVIDSON states that while one may get bankiva’s in stan- 
ding crops and in many other similar situations without any ordinary 
precautions, the Grey Junglefowl never goes more than a few yards in- 
side the fields, and if a stick cracks, or a sound is heard anywhere wi- 
thin 50 yards, he vanishes into the jungle. 
Sonnerati therefore behaves in India as bankiva on the Malabar in 
Java. | 
The Grey Jungle fowl was first bred in Europe in 1862, when thir- 
teen hybrids with bankiva were reared in the London Zoo. Since then 
it has been bred many times in various public and private aviaries, 
both pure and as crosses. Of twelve birds of which records were kept in 
the London Zoo, one notable individual lived twelve years and four 
