Mr. P. L. Sclater on the Black-shouldered Peacock. 147 



rally resembles. The whole of the secondaries, scapulars, and 

 wing-coverts are black with outer narrow edgings of green, which 

 becomes bluish towards the carpal joint. In this particular it re- 

 sembles P. muticus, and is very different from P. cristatus, in which 

 all these feathers are cream-coloured crossed with black markings. 

 The thighs of P. nigripennis are black, as in P. muticus. In P. 

 cristatus they are always of a pale drab. The female of P. nigri- 

 pennis is of a much lighter colouring than that of P. cristatus, being 

 almost entirely of a pale cream-colour, mottled with dark colouring 

 above, and readily recognizable at first sight. In this respect, it may 

 be remarked that the Black-shouldered Peacock is not intermediate 

 between the two others ; since in Pavo muticus the female is much 

 more like the male. 



Now the question arises, What is the Black-shouldered Peacock ? 

 Is it a domestic variety, a hybrid, or a feral species ? I cannot con- 

 sider it a domestic variety, because the differences in both sexes 

 appear to be constant, and to descend to the progeny, and, indeed, 

 are not of that sort that would be induced by domestication. M. 

 Temminck, in his f Histoire Naturelle des Pigeons et des Gallinaces,' * 

 considers the Black-shouldered Peacock as the true Wild Peacock, 

 and the Pavo cristatus to be a domestic variety of that. But 

 this we know is not the case, — the Common Wild Pea-fowl of Hin- 

 dostan being the true Pavo cristatus , and the Black-shouldered 

 Peacock being, as I believe, unknown in that country f. That the 

 Pavo nigripennis is not a hybrid between Pavo cristatus and P. 

 muticus, is evident from the fact that we have now in our Gardens 

 birds produced by this cross, and that they bear different characters 

 altogether, as may be seen by the stuffed specimen which I now 

 exhibit. Besides, the fertility of the birds, and the permanency and 

 invariability of the differences which separate it from its two allies, 

 seem to be quite conclusive against this view. If, therefore, it is not 

 a domestic breed nor a hybrid, we must adopt the third alternative, 

 and consider Pavo nigripennis as a distinct feral species. And I have 

 little doubt that when the range of the Pavonidce is more accurately 

 known, we shall find that Pavo nigripennis occupies a distinct geogra- 

 phical area, which will in all probability be intermediate in position, 

 as the bird is in characters, between Pavo cristatus and Pavo 

 muticus. 



Attention having been now called to this subject, I hope that no 

 opportunity will be lost of examining the eggs, the osteology, and 

 the anatomy of these birds, in order to ascertain whether the external 

 characters are supported by other grounds of differentiation. 



* Vol. ii. p. 26, Paon sauvage: Pavo cristatus primus. 



t Our Head Keeper, Mr. James Thompson, who was in Calcutta in 1857, 

 informs me that the Babu Rajendra Mullick, who is the owner of a very fine col- 

 lection of living animals, had never seen the Black-shouldered Peacock, though 

 he had specimens both of the Common and Javanese species in his Aviaries, and 

 had bred hybrids between these two. 



10* 



