Phasianus gallus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 158.
Gallus bankiva Temminck, Pig. et Gall. (1813), 2, 87.
Gallus gallus Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 22, 344; Sharpe,
Hand-List (1899), 1, 39; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 59;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 8.
? Gallus stramineicollis Sharpe, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1879), 317. [5]
La-bú-yu, Lubang, Manila, and generally; ma-noc' i-has', Bohol.
Balabac (Steere); Basilan (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor);
Bohol (McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns &
Worcester); Camiguin N. (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Cebu
(Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Fuga
(Whitehead, McGregor); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp.); Lubang
(McGregor); Luzon (Meyer, Schmacker, Whitehead, McGregor);
Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao
(Everett, Steere Exp., Goodfellow); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Bourns &
Worcester, McGregor, Porter); Negros (Bourns & Worcester, Keay);
Palawan (Steere, Whitehead, Platen, Bourns & Worcester, White);
Panay (Steere, Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester);
Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns &
Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Celestino); Sulu
(Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester);
Ticao (McGregor). Malay and Indian Peninsulas, Indo-Malayan
Islands, Indo-Chinese countries.
Adult male.--Sides of head, chin, and throat clothed with scattered
hair-like feathers; ear protected by short close-set feathers;
feathers on top of head, neck, and mantle lanceolate, those of
mantle very long; head, neck, and sides of neck dark reddish brown,
becoming lighter and yellowish near ends of longest feathers, and
forming a zone of orange-yellow, the tips again darker, reddish, and
shaft-lines darker; mantle feathers hidden by hackles, and lesser
coverts blackish brown with slight gloss; lower back and median
coverts rich maroon-red forming a wide crescent; lanceolate rump
feathers dark orange-red; below (except a few lanceolate reddish
feathers on throat) blackish brown with a slight green gloss not
always evident; primaries dark brown edged with buff; secondaries
dark brown with exposed outer webs dark cinnamon, mottled near tips;
alula and greater coverts blackish brown, the latter with green and
purple gloss; tail and its upper coverts black, glossed with green;
middle pair of rectrices curved outward and about twice the length
of next pair. Top of head decorated with a deeply emarginated, fleshy
comb, crimson in color; a wattle on each side of throat also crimson;
a round lappet below each ear light bluish; other bare areas of head
and neck pale crimson; bill dark brown above, lighter below; legs gray,
spurs black, nails dark brown. The length varies greatly, of course,
with the development of central rectrices. A male from Mariveles,
Bataan measures, 660 in length; wing, flat on rule, 235; tail, 368;
bill from front of comb, 17; tarsus, 74; middle toe with claw, 59;
spur, 24. A male from Fuga, tail, 508; spur, 28.
"Adult female.--Top of the head rust-red, shading into orange on the
neck and pale yellow on the upper mantle, each feather with a wide
black stripe down the center; rest of upper parts pale reddish brown,
finely mottled with black and with pale shafts; quills blackish brown,
the outer half of the outer webs of secondaries mottled with pale
reddish brown; fore part of neck chestnut; chest and breast pale light
red, shading into pale reddish brown on sides, flanks, and belly,
each feather with a pale shaft; under tail-coverts brownish black;
tail-feathers like the secondaries, the center pair of feathers mottled
on the margins of both webs, and the outer pairs on the outer web,
with pale rufous. Soft parts much the same as those of the male;
comb very much smaller, and wattles absent. Length, 420; wing, 190;
tail, 140; tarsus, 61.
"Immature males have the hackles of the mantle much paler than in
the majority of adult birds and mostly with dark shaft-stripes; the
chestnut part of the outer webs of the secondaries finely mottled
with black nearly to the margins; the feathers underlying the hackles
of the mantle dull, brownish black without any green gloss, and the
comb and wattles rudimentary." (Grant.)
Chick.--Below light yellow-buff, palest on chin; throat, upper breast,
and sides of neck washed with brownish buff; top and sides of head
dark yellow-buff; a band from above angle of mouth backward through
eye to side of neck dark cinnamon, bordered above with blackish brown;
middle of crown and hind neck with a wide, black-bordered cinnamon
patch which becomes diffused on interscapular region, reappears on
middle of back and is continued to the tail; the black bordered on
each side with light buff followed by dark brown; wings and tail light
brown, speckled and vermiculated with darker brown. Iris light brown;
bill, legs, and nails flesh. Small chicks were taken in Mariveles,
Province of Bataan, March 8, 1902, and at Irisan, Province of Benguet,
on April 30, 1903.
Nest.--A slight hollow dug in the earth in the shelter of bushes or
grass is the usual nest. The eggs are much smaller than with domestic
varieties; four from a nest found February 26, 1904, near Mariveles,
Bataan, measure respectively: 47 by 36; 44 by 34; 45 by 35; 46 by
35. 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. There
is no great difficulty, however, in securing specimens, if one cares
to kill them sitting. Their flesh is usually tender and more savory
than that of the domestic birds. The male has a high falsetto voice
resembling very much that of a young domestic cock. Delighting in
small growth mixed with a tangle of bamboo and rattan, especially if
near cultivated fields, this species generally avoids true forest
unless there be near-by clearings. The natives are very successful
in taking the cocks alive by employing a live decoy which they picket
within a small corral of snares.
Genus POLYPLECTRON Temminck, 1807.
Bill similar to that of Gallus; feathers of crown forming a long
crest; wings short and rounded; rectrices twenty-four in number and
greatly graduated; upper tail-coverts lengthened; tarsi covered with
transverse plates and each tarsus armed with two or three sharp spurs;
tarsus longer than middle toe with claw.