March 17^th, 1975

Dear Mr Plant,

We received your letter asking information of the jungle fowl. Indonesia has two species of jungle fowl, and in our Zoo we have two males and two females Red Jungle Fowl, and two males and four females Green Jungle Fowl. This is the description of their general character in the wild:

1 - Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus bankiva)

Length of male about 27 inches, of which nearly half is tail.

Female 17 inches.

The cock is very handsome, the tail iridescent and flame color on the Back.

The hen is mostly brown with the back yellow.

Usually solitary cock, sometimes in pairs, or a cock accompanied by several hens. They are common in the vicinity of all pastures and open terrain, also occurs in the midst of extensive stretches of forest, though they prefer the light forest.

Feeding: many kinds of seeds and fruits of wild grass, small insects and also small reptiles.

Nest: the nest is on the ground as well as in dense forest, and laid 4-6 eggs with the average size of 48,10 x 35,60 mm.

2 - Green Jungle Fowl (Gallus varius)

His distribution is especially in Java and eastern part of small Sunda Island. His main food are also seed and fruit of wild grass, small insects and small lizards, small slow-worms.

Nest: the nest is also on the ground and laid 4-5 eggs with the average size of 44,90 x 35,50 mm. It is difficult to distinguish the nest of a Red Jungle Fowl and a Green Jungle Fowl.

Generally, mainly confined to meadows and other open areas, heavy forest is avoided.

These are some information from this two famous ancestors of our domestic fowl, which are believed by Anthropologists were first domesticated by Bronze Age peoples about 4000 BC.

Hope that this short information will have some value for you.

Yours faithfully,

Linus Simandjuntak
Zoo Veterinarian