199 
Peacock with a magnificent train, has my mahout rescued from 
their clutches, only to die by the knife instead of by the Hawk’s 
claws. I once saw a single Spisactus, stoop at a Peacock which 
was on the ground, and strike at his head ; the Peacock dodged, 
rose and flew into a patch of tall grass where he lay concealed. 
The Eagle betook himself to a tree close by, whence he quietly 
watched the movements of the other. After a while, the Pea- 
cock began to move from his place of concealment, the moment 
he was well out of the grass, the Hagle darted down and caught 
him by the neck. When I got up to the place, having been 
a witness to the whole proceeding, the Hagle left his quarry and 
flew up into a tree; the Peacock was quite dead. 
“T have often put up black Partridge for these birds, and have 
had much sport watching them flying after the game. These 
birds are first rate at jungle Fowl in the wild state. Ihave 
caught several, and tried to train them; but all my falconers, 
either refused to keep them, or destroyed them shortly after they 
were put in their possession. A small Chicken, or in its place 
a grown up Hen or Cock, is a capital bait for catching this bird. 
The net used is a vertical one, about eight feet square with large 
and stout meshes. ‘The Hawk dashes into this like fury, and is 
always caught. 
“} have taken the young from the nest, one always; but I 
have frequently seen the wild birds feeding two young ones. 
“ Both young and adult utter a peculiarly loud ery, which 
may be thus rendered; whee-whik, whee-whik. This ery is 
sometimes uttered whilst on the wing, but most commonly, 
whilst perching on trees. 
“ Another and most common ery is something like this and 
resembles a whistle—toot, toot, toot, toot twee, uttered at in- 
tervals. 
“The young are most noisy, though the adults at the pairing 
time, are particularly so. All the Sp/saeti that I know, utter 
very similar notes, a perfect imitator of their notes is Hdolius 
Paradiseus ; Cissa Sinensis and Garrulus Lanceolalus sometimes 
imitate it finely. Many Drongoes do the same.” 
With reference to the above, I should remark, that Mr. 
Thompson furnished me with a fine series of the birds referred 
to, and they undoubtedly belonged to this species. 
In regard to the Spizaeti, Mr. Blyth (Ibis, 1866,) has the fol- 
lowing interesting remarks: 
“ With respect to S. Caligatus and S. <Alboniger mentioned 
under the head of S. Hieneri, see Mr. Gurney’s enumeration of 
the species of this genus, (for which he accepts the name Spizae- 
tus) accompanying Mr. Gould’s figure, (Birds of Asia, part 
