210 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



profitable table bird, and is too desirable for its beauty to be 

 used for any other purpose. In this country peafowls are not 

 common. Very few are seen except in zoological collections 

 and at the principal poultry shows. The scarcity of peafowl is 

 not due wholly to the expense of procuring them or to the diffi- 

 culty of rearing them. Indeed, neither of these constitutes a seri- 

 ous drawback to their popularity. The peafowl is its own worst 

 enemy in domestication. It has a very savage disposition toward 

 smaller birds, and in this way usually makes itself an intolerable 

 nuisance to those who grow other poultry. Many owners of 

 large farms, who do not keep turkeys, or who keep only a 

 small flock, might maintain a small stock of peafowl with very 

 little trouble. Although they are so vicious when brought in 

 close contact with smaller poultry, they will flock and forage by 

 themselves if they have room to do so. 



Management. The methods of managing turkeys apply at 

 nearly every point to the management of peafowl. The peafowl 

 matures more slowly and does not breed so early. The females 

 are not fit for breeding until two years old ; the males not until 

 three years old. They do not pair, but mate in small polygamous 

 families one male with from two to four females. The pea- 

 hen usually lays from four to six eggs rarely more than eight 

 or ten. The period of incubation is four weeks. Young pea- 

 chicks are very bright and active. They begin to fly when only 

 three or four days old. If they are to be kept in an inclosure 

 while very small, the sides must be high or the top must be 

 covered with wire netting. Although so active, they are less 

 independent than most young poultry, and follow the mother 

 closely until she drives them from her at the approach of the 

 next breeding season. Peahens are preferred as mothers, because 

 their disposition is to keep their young with them much longer 

 than a turkey or a fowl does. Next to the peahen a turkey hen 

 makes the best mother for peachicks. 



