GUINEA FOWLS 



2199 



as six thousand. In India 

 the Hindus regard the pea- 

 fowl with a superstitious rev- 

 erence, and object to their 

 being shot; and in native 

 Hindu States, the prohibition 

 being absolute, they are un- 

 molested either by Europeans 

 or natives. A variety of the 

 peafowl has the whole of the 

 wing coverts, scapulars, and 

 secondaries brownish black, 

 glossed with purple and edged 

 with green, and the thighs 

 black instead of buff. It 

 closely resembles hybrids be- 

 tween the two species already 

 mentioned, but rises inde- 

 pendently in flocks of the 

 common peafowl which have 

 been pure bred for years. 

 Possibly it may be a case of 

 reversion to the ancestral 

 type, being unknown in a 

 wild state. 



Turning to 

 Guinea Fowls . c . 



Africa we come 



to the various species of 

 guinea fowl, representing 

 the pheasant tribe in that 

 continent, but having the 

 plumage of both sexes alike. 

 Before passing to the better- 

 known genera, we may 

 briefly notice two rare West- 

 African forms of which 

 very little is known. Of 

 these the black guinea fowl 

 {Phasidus niger), occurring 

 between Cape Lopez and 

 Loango, is smaller than the 

 common guinea fowl, and has 

 the whole of the plumage 

 blackish brown, obscurely 

 penciled with brown. With 



PEACOCK. 

 (One-seventh natural size.) 



