A SWADESHI BIRD 159 



cubating. An objection to this view is the well-known 

 fact that many showy cocks sit on the eggs turn-about 

 with the dull-coloured hens in open and exposed nests. 

 Peafowl are polygamous. The breeding season 

 begins in May and continues all through the hot 

 weather. The typical nest is described as " a broad 

 depression scratched by the hen, and lined with a few 

 leaves and twigs or a little grass." It is usually made 

 amongst thick grass or in dense bushes, but occasionally 

 there is no attempt at concealment. Mr. A. Anderson 

 states that peahens frequently lay at high elevations, 

 that he has on several occasions taken their eggs from 

 the roofs of huts of deserted villages on which rank 

 vegetation grew to a height of two or three feet. My 

 experience of captive birds bears out this. The peahens 

 in the Lahore " Zoo " lay all their eggs on a broad shelf 

 in their aviary, some fifteen feet above the level of the 

 ground. Seven or eight eggs of a dirty white hue are 

 laid. These are, in the words of Hume, " delicious 

 eating." 



