GALLC8 SONNERATI.
äSON.NKRAT'S .Jl'NGUM’OWI.,
PHASIANUS GALLUS, Gmel. Syst. Nat. y ^ ^ p ß 737.—Sonn. .Voy. t. 94, 95.—Lath. Ind; 0rn. vol. ii. p. 625.
G A L L ||| S^NNERATI, Temm. Plan. ColOTi'232, 233.—Sclat. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1863) p. 122. sp. 3.—Jerd. B. of India. yol. in. p, 539.—Bon.
: Comp.. Rend. (1856>p.•879.-^-Burgess, Proc. Zool. ,Soc. (1855) p . 29;.—lemn*. Big; et Gal}. v oM ü ff 659.—Gray, Gen. of B. (1845)
vol. üi.—Id. List. of.Gall (1.86.7) p..39—Sacc. Rev. et Mag, Zool. ¡(1862) p. 11, pl..3—Blyth, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1847) vol. xx.
• . ,p.i 389|j—Blanford, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. vol. xxxvi. p. 199.
H ab. Southern India : Godavery, Mahadeo hill^ Barod»i iGhota Oodipoor, Satpoora hills, Taptee valley,
and Chauda ( B l a n fo r d ) .
T h is , the handsomest of the Jungle-fowl, is found in the southern part of India; and by the singular spots upon the hackles, as
though yellow sealing-wax had been dropped upon them, it is easily distinguished from all the other members of the genus. For a
description of its h a b i t a t ,w e l l as some interesting remarks upon its mode o f living,. I quote from Jerdon :—
“ This handsome Jungle-fowl ;is. found, in southern India only, extending on the east coast to a little north of the Godavery, in
Central India to the Pachmarri^pr Mahadeo hills,-north of Nagpore, and on the west- coast to the Rajpeepla hills, where it meets
the Red Jungle-fowl. Its occurrence on the Pachmarri hills is most probably its eastern extension from the Western Ghats and
the Rajpeepla hills ; and it will probably be found all along the Sathpoora rangé., I do not know of its occurrence east of the
Mahadeo hills^ftill the neighbourhood of the lower part o f the Godavery is reached. It is very abundant on th e Malahar coast,
especially, in.-the more elevated -districts, as in the Wynaad, and it ascends to the summit of the Nelgherries ; it is also common
in suitable localities on the Eastern Ghâts,. and in the various isolated ranges of hills in the south of India. It is not rare in the
Naggery hills near Madras, and is constantly brought for sale to the Madras - market.
“ Like the last (Gallus ferrugineus') it is particularly partial to bamboo jungles. Early in the morning, throughout the Malabar
coast, the Wynaad, &c., Jungle-fowl may always be found feeding on the roads; and with dogs ÿoü are certain of getting several
shots on the roadside, the birds perching a t once on being put up by dogs. In some districts where they can be beaten out of
the woods, and especially on the Neilglierries, very pretty shooting is to be had a t this Jungle-cock, the sharply defined woods (or
sholas, as they are called) being well adapted to-being beaten for game. The hen lays from February to May, generally having
from seven to ten eggs of a pinky cream-colour, under a bamboo clump. The call' of the cock is very peculiar, being a broken
and imperfect kind of crow, quite unlike that of the Red Jungle:cock, and impossible to describe. When taken from thé jungles,
they are more wild and not so easily domesticated as the Red Jungle-fowl;; but they have bred in confinement with hens o f the
common breed. I ; have already noticed the occurrence, in a wild state, of hybrids between this and the Red Jungle-fowl.”
Mr. Blanford, in a communication to. the Journal of the Asiatic Society. upon the geographical distribution o f the Red and
Sonnerat Jungle-fowls, s a ^ s S l regret very ■ much ' haying been the means of misleading Dr. Jerdon as to the distribution
of the Red Jungle-fowl. I had been told by" two different observers ' that they had seen and shot Jungle-fowl exactly like
the common Barn-do,or fowl in and near the, Rajpihk hills ; and a third had assured me that he had , seen specimens of two
different kinds of Jungle-fowl from the same neighbourhood. I have now been through the Rajpilila liills, and the western Satpooras
pretty thoroughly, and I am convinced that the only Jungle-fowl inhabiting those ranges is Gallus Sonneratii. This species is also
found north of the Nerbudda, in the jungles east of Baroda, around .Chota Oodipoor; but how far it extends to the north and
north-west I cannot say. It is not improbably to be found in the Aruvelli range, and perhaps about Mount Aboo. It occurs
throughout the Satpoora hills, north o f Kandesh, and, indeed, throughout the Taptee valley. Further south I have recently shot it
in the jungles ju st east of Chanda. Jerdon mentions its’ occurrence a t Pachmurri, where, however, I learn from Lieut. J . Forsyth
that G. ferrugineus also occurs. Lieut. Forsyth adds that the two kinds of Jungle-fowl meet on the plateau at Pachmurri, and he
has shot both there;-”
The male has the back part of the head covered with short black feathers, the shafts white, widening at the ends into a kind
of spatule. The hackles are very long, covering the entire neck, black, covered a t regular intervals with white spots, and tipped with
a yellowish spot, the end of the feather being formed of a singularly brittle substance, resembling a fine shaving in texture. The
upper parts are blackish brown, edges of the feathers grey, and the shafts white. The upper tail-coverts like the back, the featbfers
long and lanceolate iu shape, spotted with buff near the end, and margined with chestnut near the tip. Underparts black, shafts
of feathers wbjibej, and the centres and - margins greyish white. Some of the flank-feathers have the; terminal margins chestnut.
Primaries dark brown, as are also the secondaries. A large patch upon the wing, the) feathers o f which have their centres white