Jungle fowl

“ Before the sun rose next day Badshah was deep in the forest, bearing the two officers and Tashi on his back. He moved rapidly along animal paths through the jungle in a direction parallel with the mountains. Jungle fowl whirred up from under his feet, deer crashed away through the undergrowth as he passed; but never a shot was fired at them, though rifles and guns were in the riders' hands. ”

“ Of nearly six hundred species of birds in the Philippines the jungle fowl, or bankiva, is best known, and is both killed and domesticated. Unlike the dove, it does not understand human speech, but it has a power over our kind that is exercised by no other animal. Once a year the spirits grant to it this power of charming, in order that both spirits and birds may be revenged on men, their constant enemies. ”

“ For an hour the scrub fowl have been violently noisy, but have retired to the recesses of the jungle, whence comes an occasional chuckle of satisfaction or a coarse, triumphant crow. The fasciated honey-eater has loudly called “with a voice that seemed the very sound of happiness”; the leaden flycatcher, often silent but seldom still, has twittered and whispered plaintively; the sun-birds are playing gymnastics among the lemon blossoms, and the centre of activity for butterflies is the red-flowered shrub bordering the wavering path. ”

“ The second good species is the grey jungle-fowl, G. sonnerati, whose range begins a little to the northward of the limits of the preceding, and it occupies the southern part of the Indian peninsula, without being found elsewhere. The cock has the end of the shaft of the neck-hackles dilated, forming a horny plate, like a drop of yellow sealing-wax. ”

“ It was his duty, too, to watch for danger and he usually would send the flock whirring into the jungle while they were well beyond shotgun range. When flushed from the open the birds nearly always would alight in the first large tree and sit for a few moments before flying deeper into the jungle. We caught several hens in our steel traps, and one morning at the edge of a swamp I shot a jungle fowl and a woodcock with a "right and left" as they flushed together. ”

“ Remarks.—The Red Jungle Fowl has been introduced in Micronesia, [Pg 115] as it has been in other parts of Oceania. It is found on many of the islands of Micronesia, including the volcanic islands and the atolls. The NAMRU2 party did not find feral fowl at Guam but found the wary birds at Ulithi and in the Palaus. The birds at Ulithi were small and of a mixed breed. At Palau some fine examples of typical jungle fowl were observed. Coultas obtained similar specimens at Ponapé and Kusaie. The natives have apparently allowed these birds to go wild, but catch them for food. ”

“ The jungle fowl are the domestic cock and hen in a wild state, of which there are many varieties in the East, though they are not often found in the jungles far beyond the tropics. The plumage of the cock bird is rich, varied, and beautiful, far more so than that of the civilized chanticleer ”

“ The strange nesting habit and the large size of its eggs recall that curious bird the jungle fowl of Australia (Megapodius tumulus) . Great numbers of high and large mounds exist in some parts of Australia, which were for a long time thought to be the tombs of departed natives; the natives, however, disclaimed the sepulchral character, saying that they were artificial ovens in which the eggs of the jungle fowl were laid, and which, by the heat that is always disengaged from decaying vegetable substances, preserved sufficient warmth to hatch the eggs. ”

“ As to wild game, there were lots of jungle fowl (original stock of our familiar barn-door cocks and hens) , a few pigeons, Argus pheasants, small barking deer, pigs, sambur, barrasingha, metnas, crocodiles, leopards, tigers, bears and elephants; but I had little time for shooting and it was expensive work, the jungle being so thick that riding elephants were quite necessary. If keen enough, one could sit all night on a machan in a tree near a recent "kill," on the chance of Stripes showing himself; but it never appealed to me much, that kind of sport. ”

“ It has, also, been confidently asserted that the domestic cock owes his origin to the jungle fowl of India. The most probable supposition, however, is, that the varieties known to us may be referred to a few of the more remarkable fowls, as the progenitors of the several species. The great fowl of St. Jago and Sumatra may, perhaps, safely be recognized as the type of some of the larger varieties, such as the Spanish and the Padua fowls, and those resembling them; while to the Bankiva cock, probably, the smaller varieties belong, such as Bantams, the Turkish fowl, and the like. ”

“ Jungle fowl are rarely seen at Rome, and then usually in cages. They resemble guinea chickens more than dunghill fowls. When perfect in form and appearance they are often carried in the public processions with parrots and white blackbirds and other such rarities. They do not usually lay or raise their chickens on a farm, but in the forests. ”

“ A jungle-fowl (var. of Gallus bankiva) is found in the mountains, but as domesticated fowls were abundant, even when Tahiti was first discovered by Europeans, these wild birds are doubtless the offspring of tame birds, probably imported with the pigs and dogs by Malay vessels. There are no peculiar reptiles, and batrachians are entirely wanting. The lagoons swarm with fish of many species. Insects are poor in species, though some of them are indigenous. ”

“ The jungle fowls have given us the domestic chickens. The wild turkey, the pheasants, the guinea fowl, the ostrich, the emu and the peacock we possess in domestication unchanged.
Caged Wild Birds Quickly Appreciate Sanctuary. Mr. Crandall reports that in the Zoological Park there have been many instances of the voluntary return to their cages of wild birds that have escaped from them. The following instances are cited, out of many that are remembered:
A wild hermit thrush, only two weeks in captivity, escaped from an outdoor cage. ”

“ The Black Minorca and White-faced Black Spanish have the gametic formula CJNwx. Owing to the absence of the graying factor and the presence of the color factor these appear as pigmented birds, but the supermelanic coat, N, obscures the Jungle coloration, so that the bird appears entirely black. Nevertheless the black is not of uniform quality, but just those parts of the feathers of the wing, back, hackle, saddle, and breast that are red in the Jungle fowl are of an iridescent black, while the portion that is not red in the Jungle is of a dead black. ”

“ In color the eggs are light creamy buff; the shape is similar to that found in eggs from the domestic varieties.
The jungle fowl is found throughout the Philippines and the males are frequently domesticated by the natives and used for their national pastime of cock fighting. In this country at least the wild chickens afford the gunner no sport whatever as they habitually remain within thick tangles of brush where wing-shots are impossible, or, if by chance caught in the open, they scurry to the nearest thicket. ”

“ Cock-fighting was another amusement at which large parties would gladly assemble. The birds came of a good stock, were large, heavy, well-spurred, and carefully bred, with, as I suspected, a strain of the “jungle-fowl,” a shapely bird, which abounds in the jungle, 53 though difficult to get at on foot, and which, if hung for the proper time, eats as well as pheasant. ”

“ In the lowlands, tigers, rhinoceroses, deer and wild hogs are abundant. A few wolves are also found. Of small game, hares, jungle fowl, peacocks, partridges, snipe, woodcock, wild ducks and geese, and green pigeons are numerous in the tarai, and jungle fowl and pheasants in the hills. ”

“ It is easily known when a Jungle-fowl has been recently excavating, from the distinct impressions of its feet on the top and sides of the mound, and the earth being so lightly thrown over, that with a slender stick the direction of the hole is readily detected, the ease or difficulty of thrusting the stick down indicating the length of time that may have elapsed since the bird’s operations. ”

“ The chief difference between tamed wild animals, such as squirrels, birds, owls, foxes, crows and so on, and the domesticated animals and birds, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, pigeons and chickens, lies in the possibility with the latter of modifying nature and breeding for certain special markings, colours or size. All breeds of chickens from the little bantams to the enormous Brahmas have been bred from a wild species of chicken found in India and called the jungle fowl. ”

“ All the varied forms of dogs—from mastiff to toy-terrier, and from greyhound to dachshund and bulldog—find their prototypes in wild carnivora like the wolf and jackal. In Asia and Malaysia the jungle fowl still lives, while its domesticated descendants have altered under human direction to become the diverse strains of the barnyard, and even the peculiar Japanese product with tail feathers sometimes as long as twenty feet. ”

“ An additional point of interest is that in disposition this bird seems wilder and more shy than the domesticated breeds usually are. It is vigorous and hardy, and is much admired by the fanciers.
Another bird whose wild ancestor is known with a high degree of certainty is the barn-door fowl. It has sprung from the jungle fowl, Gallus bankiva, and less remotely from the game fowl. Hence, if fowls of different breeds are crossed, the offspring, should reversion occur, ought to resemble either the jungle fowl or their less remote ancestors, the game fowl. ”

“ Among the GALLINACEOUS fowls, large numbers contribute to the food delicacies of man. Some, like the turkey, peacock, &c., of considerable size; others, as the pigeon tribe, form smaller tit-bits.
The game birds, the pheasant, partridge, grouse, &c., and the quail, guinea fowl, and jungle fowl, are bagged whenever they can be obtained by the sportsman. ”

“ A tame rooster is fastened in the jungle and around him is placed a snare, consisting of running knots attached to a central band. The crowing of this fowl soon attracts the wild birds which, coming in to fight, are almost sure to become entangled in one of the nooses. ”

“ Something scuttling over the fallen leaves in the undergrowth draws my attention and I raise my rifle, only to lower it when, with a frightened squawk, a jungle hen flutters up out of the bushes and flies away among the trees. These birds are the progenitors of our ordinary barnyard fowl, and so like them that once close to Santrabari, when out with a shot-gun, I let several hens pass me unscathed, [Pg 89] under the impression that they were fowls belonging to our mahouts. And when in the heart of the forest I first heard the cocks crowing I thought that we were near a village. ”

“ Its plumage is dirty white, with the exception of the ends of the wing feathers, which are shabby black. Its shape is displeasing to the eye, and its gait is an ungainly waddle. Yet even this fowl looks almost beautiful as it sails on outstretched pinions, high in the heaven. Between the extremely beautiful and the extremely ugly birds we meet with another class of superlatives—the extremely grotesque. This class is well represented in India. The great hornbill—Dichoceros bicornis—and the adjutant—Leptoptilus dubius—are birds which would take prizes in any exhibition of oddities. ”

“ The thick river jungle gave cover to such animals as the bushbuck, leopard, the beautiful colobus, some of the tiny antelope, waterbuck, buffalo and rhinoceros. Among the thorn and acacia trees of the hillsides one was certain of impalla, eland, diks-diks, and giraffes. In the grass bottoms were lions, rhinoceroses, a half dozen varieties of buck, and thousands and thousands of game birds such as guinea fowl and grouse. On the plains fed zebra, hartebeeste, wart-hog, ostriches, and several species of the smaller antelope. As a sportsman's paradise this region would be hard to beat. ”

“ The same wise provision of Nature noticed in the case of the Guinea fowl is evinced in a still greater degree in the little pea chickens. Their native jungle—tall, dense, sometimes impervious, swarming with reptile, quadruped, and even insect, enemies—would be a most dangerous habitation for a little tender thing that could merely run and squall. Accordingly, they escape from the egg with their quill-feathers very highly developed. In three days, they will fly up, and perch upon any thing three feet high; in a fortnight, they will roost on trees, or the tops of sheds ”

“ Rush-covered marshes, lakes, and jhils, which are overgrown with reeds and thick sedges, form the happy hunting-grounds of this species. Its long toes enable it to run about on the broad floating leaves of aquatic plants. They also make it possible for the bird to cling to the stems of reeds and bushes. Very strange is the sight it presents when so doing—a bird as big as a fowl behaving like a reed warbler. The long toes of the porphyrio are not webbed, but are provided with narrow lobes which enable it to swim, though not with the same ease as its cousin, the bald coot. ”

“ These jungle- fowls, which are the domestic poultry in their wild state, are excellent eating, finer and of a better flavour, perhaps, than any game bird, with the exception of the florikin. They are shy, and run very swiftly through the bushes, so that it is difficult to procure them, even where they abound ”

“ They could store up food for the winter, they could build warm shelters and get warm clothing, and they could sit by a fire.
Sometimes when the first people were out hunting, instead of killing the young animals that they caught, they took them home and cared for them. So the little creatures became quite tame and grew up about the camps. The wild jungle fowls were the ancestors of the domestic hens which we find so useful. The wild cow was tamed in like manner, and made to supply milk in addition to food and clothing. ”