THE PEA-FOWL. 83 



of tail, 51 inches; to end of upper tail-covertSj o2'5 ; Aving, 

 19-1 ; tail, 22*5 ; tarsus, 6-6. 



Adult Female. — Differs from the male in having the back, 

 shoulder-feathers, and rump brownish-black with but little 

 green gloss, and indistinctly mottled with buff; the upper tail- 

 coverts extending nearly to the end of the tail, and of a golden- 

 green hue irregularly barred with buff. Total length, 44 inches ; 

 wing, 167; tail, 16; tarsus, 5-4. 



Range. — Indo-Chinese countries, extending north to Chitta- 

 gong, east through Siam to Cochin China, and southwards 

 through the Malay Peninsula. It is also found in Java, and 

 is stated by some of the earlier writers to inhabit Sumatra, but 

 its occurrence there is doubtful. 



Habits. — In many respects, as regards habits, food, and 

 modes of life, the Eastern bird closely resembles the Indian 

 one, but there is this essential difference, at any rate every- 

 where within our limits, that the Eastern bird is never found 

 in thousands, throughout unbroken stretches of country, a 

 hundred or more miles in length, as the Indian bird is, but only 

 in small colonies in isolated spots, where one may often travel 

 fifty or a hundred miles before coming across another colony. 



Like its congeners, it moves about feeding, morning and 

 evening, advancing into fields, if there happen to be cultiva- 

 tion near at hand at these times, and retreating during the day 

 to dense cover. At night, of course, it roosts upon trees, and 

 its call-note, like that of the Indian bird, which it closely re- 

 sembles, is a harsh "mew, mew, mew," which one might fancy 

 to be the cry of some gigantic tom-cat in distress. {Hume.) 



To quote Colonel Tickell : — " The habits of Pavo inuticus 

 are so similar to those of its congener as scarcely to admit of 

 separate description ; but I should say it was a still more strictly 

 sylvan or forest-haunting bird. Cultivation does not appear to 

 entice it far from its leafy fastnesses, as it does the Bengal species, 

 and it is, in consequence, more secluded, wilder, and more 



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