73 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
Habits—Mr. A. O. Hume writes:— An Indian bird paz 
excellence, the Common Pea-Fowl, though widely spread 
throughout India proper, does not normally extend elsewhere, 
except into Ceylon and Assam. 
‘“¢ Even within these limits it is not universally distributed, as 
it affects water and cultivation, and in no way shuns the abodes 
of men. But there may be too much water, cultivation, and 
population to suit its taste. 
“As a rule, the Pea-Fowl is not a bird of high elevations. 
On the Nilgiris I know it occurs as high as 5,000 feet at Cook’s 
Hill, on the north-east slopes of those mountains, and it may 
even, as Jerdon says so, though I have been unable to verify 
this, occur up to 6,000 feet, but it dces not, I believe, ascend 
the Pulneys, or the Ceylon Hills, to elevations of above 3,000 
feet ; and in the Himalayas, though in the river valleys it 
penetrates, as in Central Gahrwal, far into the hills, it is rarely 
seen above 2,000 feet. Broken and jungly ground, where 
good cover exists, near water on the one hand, and cultivation 
on the other, is the favourite resort of the Pea-Fowl, and, 
wherever this favourable combination exists within ‘He limits 
indicated, there the Pea-Fowl is sure to abound. Canals, with 
their grass- and tree-clad banks, are, in Upper India, pet 
abiding places of the species. 
* But it is not only in such Semin suitable localities that 
this species thrives amazingly; it is to be seen almost through- 
out Rajputana. In and about the rocky and -semi-desert 
tracts, for instance, in which lie Jeypore, and the more ancient 
capital of that state, Umber, myriads of Pea-Fowl are to be 
met with. Everywhere throughout Upper India a certain 
superstitious reverence attaches to the Pea-Fowl, and the mass 
of the population more or less dislike their slaughter ; but, in 
these native states, the prohibition is absolute, and no man, 
native or European, can or does molest them, though tigers 
and leopards, if the people speak truly, are less amenable to 
PNCMOLILYs. 00). 4,6 
