Jungle fowl, the national emblem of Sri Lanka

by K.G.H. Munidasa

The International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP) at its 14th conference, held in Tokyo in June 1960 unanimously passed a resolution selecting the Jungle Cock (an endemic species) as the emblem of the Ceylon branch.

Accordingly, the emblems selected in respect of some of the other nations were: The Robin (Great Britain), The Swallow (Austria), The Blackbird (Sweden), The Spoonbill (Netherlands), The White Stork (Germany), The Green Pheasant (Japan) and The Peacock (India).

The first mention of Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl was by Lesson, who named it Gallus lafayettei after scientist La Fayette and several other authorities subsequently used other names in their works.

However, according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 1961 the correct name should be spelled as Gallus lafeyettei.

There are four well-defined jungle fowl in the Asian Region, i.e. the Grey Jungle Fowl Gallus sonnerati of western, central and southern India, the Red Jungle Fowl Gallus gallus of north-eastern and central India, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, which is regarded as the progenitor of the present-day this species) and the Green Jungle Fowl (Gallus javanicus) is a species peculiar to Indonesia.

Affiliated to the family of Phasianidae (pheasants, partridges and quails) the Sri Lanka Jungle fowl may readily be distinguished from the other species of jungle fowl by its yellow comb with red margin, red breast and the double note cry of the male.

Double-note

The call of the cock is a double-note “Cluck, joy-joyce” while the hen's cackle is a high-pitched kwikkuk kwikkukkwikukkuk. Her desire note as when she is about to lay an egg is a kra-krar, very much similar to that of the domestic hen.

The natural diet of the jungle fowl consists mainly of vegetable matter, a major part being seeds and seed-pods.

They show a special liking for Strobilanthus or “Nillu” (Sinhala) which flourishes in the Hills (above 8,000 ft. elevation) where large numbers are known to migrate in certain seasons when this particular weed is seeding in the highland forests.

The jungle fowl, as far as the published records show, breed in the first quarter of the year, and often a second clutch is laid in August or September.

The nest is generally a shallow scrape in the ground concealed amidst herbage under a tree or beside a dead log and also nests may occasionally be found atop dead stumps or on platforms of rubbish caught up in tangles of creepers.

In July 1970 at Tunmulla in Panama the Ceylon Bird Club discovered a hen sitting on three to four eggs in a slight depression on the ground under a tussock of grass in the shade of a large tree. They were creamy-white and sparingly speckled with shades of brown.

The newly hatched chicks are industrious and learn to scratch no sooner than they leave the nest. Their wing feathers grow rapidly and in about a week the chicks are able to follow the mother hen to roost in trees, cuddling under her wings or safely sitting between her legs.

G.M. Henry in his Guide, 1955 page 257 states that the jungle foul has a wide distribution in the island, wherever jungle or dense scrub to any extent are to be found. They spend their life in the forest or its outskirts, never venturing far from cover, foraging in the carpet of dead leaves, during most of the hours of daylight.

Territorial rights

It is believed that the crowing of the cocks is a means of maintaining their territorial rights against rivals in the neighbourhood. Fights among them are rare, but they may be bloody.

As with the domestic fowl the jungle fowl are reputed to be polygamous thereby leaving all family cares to the hens.

Currently, the numbers of jungle fowl are reported to be fast dwindling as more and more areas of scrub jungle are being cleared for cultivation.