Sahyadrica

“Remember what the dormouse said…” Waking up to the loud call of the chicken ( Gallus domesticus ) is so common for us that even clocks come with prerecorded calls as alarm. The call belongs to the male fowl, the cock – it is the quintessential bird and the omnipresent sound of the Indian countryside. It is only when you have lived long enough in the countryside that you realise this call is not typical of mornings. It is driven more by the presence of the hens around, and if there is a brood around, a cock might sing all night. Today, the koo-kuduk-koo of the chicken is recognized more by a watch’s alarm and the chicken itself for what it is – food – than for its historic association with humans. This history is quite interesting, an important chapter in the book of mankind, no less: How the hunter-gatherers observed wild fowl life history to not only hunt – they are still hunted – but to capture them live and breed and tame them and keep them around settlements which are found t...