A SWADESHI BIRD i55 



where there is plenty of cover, good crops, and abund- 

 ance of water. They are very plentiful in the Hima- 

 layan terai, where they are a source of annoyance to the 

 sportsman. You are sitting in your machan, Hstening 

 to the approaching line of beaters. Presently there is 

 a rustle among the fallen leaves ; a creature is making 

 its way through the undergrowth. You listen intently, 

 and perceive with satisfaction that the moving object 

 is coming towards your machan. You are now all 

 attention, and grasp your rifle in such a manner that 

 it can, in an instant, be brought to your shoulder. 

 Then, to your disgust, a peacock emerges with a good- 

 moming-have-you-used-Pear's-soap air. When, after 

 about half a dozen of these false alarms, a bear appears, 

 you are, as likely as not, unprepared for him. 



In many parts of Northern India, notably in those 

 districts through which the Jumna and Ganges run, 

 peafowl are accounted sacred by the Hindu population. 

 If you shoot one in such a locaHty the villagers have 

 a disagreeable way of turning out en masse, armed 

 with lathis. The reverence for the peacock is curiously 

 local. In one village the people will invite you to shoot 

 the birds on account of the damage they do to the 

 crops ; while the inhabitants of a village at a distance 

 of less than a hundred miles will send a wire to the 

 Lieutenant-Governor if you so much as point a gun 

 at the sacred fowl. I once camped in a district where 

 peafowl were exceptionally numerous, and on this 

 account I concluded that they were venerated by the 

 populace. But, sacred or not, I hold that there is 

 nothing to equal a young peafowl as a table bird, so I 



