312 BIRDS OF BRITISH BTJRMAH. 



Order XII. GALLING. 



Family PHASIANID^E. 



Subfamily PAVONINE. 

 Genus PAVO, Linn. 



671. PAVO MUTICUS. 



THE BURMESE PEAFOWL. 



Pavo muticus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 268 ; Elliot, Mon. Phas. i. pi. 5 ; Hume, S. F. 

 iii. p. 165; Bl $ Wald. B. Burm. p. 147; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 402 

 Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 668; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. pp. 425, 520; Hume, 

 S. F. vii. p. 455, viii. p. 110 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game Birds, i. p. 94, pi. ; Bingham, 

 S. F. ix. p. 195 ; Gates, S. F. x. p. 235 ; Kelham, Ibis, 1881, p. 529. 



Description. It is unnecessary to describe the brilliant plumage of this 

 bird ; and I shall content myself with pointing out the differences between 

 the Burmese and the Indian Peafowl. Structurally they may be distin- 

 guished at a glance. In P. cristatus the crest is composed of feathers the 

 shafts of which are bare except at the tips ; in P. muticus the crest-feathers 

 are webbed throughout their length. The coloration of the two is also very 

 distinct. In P. cristatus the whole head, neck and breast are of a beauti- 

 ful purplish blue, the scapulars, tertiaries and the lesser wing-coverts 

 rufescent barred with black, and the skin of the face greyish white ; in 

 P. muticus the head, the whole neck and the breast are brilliant green, the 

 scapulars, tertiaries and lesser wing-coverts are uniform and unbarred, and 

 the skin of the face is blue above and round the eyes, deep yellow on 

 the remainder of the face. The females may be distinguished by the 

 form of the crest as well as by the coloration of the neck and breast and 

 skin of the face, all of which are similar to the same parts of the male. 



Iris brown ; legs and bill horny brown ; facial skin blue on the upper, 

 yellow on the posterior and lower part. 



Length about 45 inches, tail 16, wing 18*5, tarsus 6, bill from gape 2*3. 

 The female is smaller in all her dimensions. The train of the male, the 

 feathers of which constitute the upper tail-coverts and not the tail itself, 

 reaches sometimes to 45 inches beyond the tip of the tail. The total length 

 of the male, from the tip of the bill to the end of the train, is in fine birds 

 as much as 7J feet. 



