33, Gallus lafayetti
THE CEYLON JUNGLE-FOWL. Wali-kukula,
Ceylon; Kada-koli (Tamil).
Male 19" to 30", tail from vent 8" to 14"; 2 1/8 to 2 1/4 lbs, Female 15" to 17", tail from vent 5" to 6"; 1 1/8 to 1 3/8 lbs. Tail fourteen feathers. Legs pale yellow. Bill brown.— Male: Comb with serrated margin red; wattles purplish red with yellow oval spot. Neck-hackles straw-yellow, dark shafted; those on lower back and lump with heart-shaped spot of glossy violet. Chest and sides orange, with maroon central band. Belly black, mottled chestnut. Tail purplish black.— Female: Brown mottled, each feather margined dark brown. Chin white. Differs from G. ferrugineus in having the secondary quills irregularly barred buff. Breast white, fringed and marked with black. Ceylon. Two to four eggs (1.71 x 1.30), yellowish brown, minutely speckled. (B. 1329. O. 80. O.G. ii. 53. H & M. i. 243.)
Also G. varius, the Javan J. F. Male 28". Female 15 1/3 With comb entire and single throat-wattle. Tail of sixteen feathers.
G. aeneus. From Sumatra, a hybrid between the Domestic Fowl and G. varius.
G. temmincki From Batavia, with toothed comb, throat-wattle, and a small lateral pair. A hybrid between G. ferrugineus and G, varius.
G. violaceus. A hybrid from Borneo.
G. stramineicollis. From the Sulu Islands, the offspring of a domestic variety run wild. (O.G, ii. 60.)
On 7.8.88 Jamrach's agent showed me in Delhi two pairs of what he called Wild Bantams. The cocks were combed, and had a rudimentary spur. The legs green. The hens were coloured ordinary brown. He said they had been reared from eggs by a tame fowl. Mr. Wright, of the E. I. Railway, told me he had seen these birds wild on the Jubbulpore line. They belong to the subfamily Phasianinae. But what is their genus ? Not Gallus, for it has a long curved spur; and not Galloperdix, for that has two or more spurs.— A. Le M.
NOTE.— In Pucrasia the tail is but slightly longer than wing in males, and shorter in females.
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