THE TEA-FOWL. 79 



"The Pea-Fowl is at times omnivorous, and land-shells, 

 insects of all kinds, worms, small lizards, and even tiny frogs 

 may be found in their crops, but by choice I think they feed 

 on grain and tender juicy shoots of grass and flower-buds, and 

 I have scores of times examined their stomachs without find- 

 ing a trace of anything else, although, had they been so 

 "^I'nded, animal food of all kinds abounded round them. 

 ^ " ^Vhere numerous, they do much damage to cultivation, 

 and, being excessively fond of the buds of trees, are also very 

 destructive to young plantations." 



In Colonel Tickell's deHghtful account of this species we 

 read : — " Pea-Fowl roost at night on high trees. The highest 

 they can get in the jungle they inhabit; but they select the lowest 

 branches for their perch. They are rather late in roosting, and 

 I have heard them flying up to their berths long after sunset, 

 and when the Night-Jars had been for some time abroad, flit- 

 ting over the dusky jungle. The cock-bird invariably leads the 

 way, rising suddenly from the brushwood near the roost ing- 

 tree, with a loud ' kok-kok-kok-kok,' and being presently 

 followed by his harem — four or five hens. If marked to their 

 roosting-place, and if it be a clear moonlight night, they may 

 be easily shot, for, not knowing where to go, they will frequently 

 remain on the tree till fired at two or three times. When 

 forced to quit, they fly towards the ground, and pass the rest 

 of the night as well as they can, someiinics falling a prey to 

 leopards or wild cats. If theie are hills in the jungle, the Pea- 

 Fowl select some prominei t tr je on the top, or half-way up. In 

 the Nilgiris and other mountain regions in Southern India, says 

 Jerdon, this bird ascends to the height of 6,000 feet above the 

 sea ; but in Sikhim (Darjiling)and other parts of the Himalaya, 

 not higher than 2,000 feet. . . ." Colonel Tickcll con- 

 tinues : — " In the months of December and January, the tem- 

 perature in the forests of Central India, especially in the valleys, 

 is very low, and the cold, from sudden evaporation, intense at 

 sunrise. The Pea Fowl in the forests may be observed at such 



