THE PEA-FOWL. yy 



THE TEA-FOWL. GENUS TAVO. 



Pavo^ Linn. S^ N. i. p. 267 (1766). 



Type, P. cristatiis^ Linn. 



Tail long and wedge-shaped, composed of twenty feathers ; 



upp^%tail-covert3 cnoimously developed in the male, forming 



the "train." 



First primary flight-feather much shorter than the tenth ; 

 fiTih somewhat the longest. 

 An elevated crest of feathers. 

 Tarsus armed in the male with a short stout spur. 

 Only two species are known. 



I. THE COMMON PEA-FOWL. PAVO CRISTATUS. 

 t 



Pavo crlstatus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 267 (1766); Elliot, Monogr. 

 Phasian. i. pi. 3 (1S72); Hume and Marshall, Game 

 Birds Lid. i. p. 81, pi. (1878); Oates, ed. Hume's Nest 

 and Eggs, Ind. B. iii. p. 405 (1890); Ogilvie- Grant, Cat. 

 B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 368 (1893). 



Adult Male. — Crest of erect naked shafts, with fan-shaped 

 bluish-green plumes at the extremity ; the lesser and median 

 wing-coyerts, shoulder-feathers and inner secondary quills pa/e 

 buff, barred and mottled ivith black, slightly glossed with green ; 

 primary quills and their coverts pale chestnut ; thighs ivhitish 

 buff. Naked skin on sides of head livid white. Total length 

 to the end of tail, 35 inches ; to the end of upper tail-coverts 

 or train, 78 ; wing, 17-5 ; tail, 19-5; tarsus, 5-5. 



Adult Female. — Terminal jilumes of crest-feathers mostly 

 chestnut edged with golden-green; feathered parts of head 

 mostly dark chestnut, paler on the neck ; mantle golden- 

 green ; rest of upper-parts brown, mdistinctly mottled with 

 buff; wing-coverts more coarsely mottled with buff and black ; 

 throat and part of neck white ; chest brownish-black, edged 

 with green and buff ; under-parts buff, browner on the belly. 

 Total length, 32 inches ; wing, 16 ; tail, 13 ; tarsus, 4*8. 



