THE PEAHEN. 41g 
quently it retires into solitude, to find there the calm and tranquillity 
which such a critical state demands. The Wild Peahen lays from 
twenty to thirty eggs in a hole hollowed in the ground ; the domestic 
bird is less fruitful. To hide the nest from the searching eye of the 
male, which breaks the eggs whenever opportunity offers, is one of 
the female’s first duties. Incubation lasts from twenty-seven to thirty 
days. The young follow their mother from their birth, and attain 
ST ae 
Pa 
aS 
Fig. 159.—Impeyan Pheasants. 
their full development in three years. The Peahen, like the Hen 
Pheasant and the Common Hen, adopts the plumage of the male 
when age has rendered her unfruitful. The Peacock lives from 
twenty-five to thirty years; some authors have wrongly attributed 
to them the longevity of a century. 
Peacock Pheasants (Polyplectron) owe their name to the supera- 
bundance of spurs with which they are armed ; for the males always 
possess two, sometimes three, on each limb. The plumage of these 
birds, like that of Peacocks, is sprinkled with glittering ocellations : 
but their tails are shorter, and not susceptible of expansion. 
