PAVO. 69 



surrounded by blue within a coppery disk, with an outer rim of 

 alternating green and bronze ; scapulars and outer surface of wicig, 

 including tertiaries, mostly barred black and buff, a few of the outer 

 median secondary coverts blapk glossed with green and purple; 

 primaries and their coverts pale chestnut, secondaries black ; tail 

 dark brown ; breast and flanks dark glossy green ; thighs buff ; 

 abdomen and downy lower tail-coverts blackish brown. 



Females have the head and nape rufous brown, tips of the crest- 

 feathers chestnut edged with green ; lower neck metallic green ; 

 the upper surface brown, faintty mottled paler in parts ; quills and 

 tail-feathers dark brown, the latter with whitish tips ; breast and 

 abdomen buffy white, inner portion of each breast-feather dark 

 brown glossed with green ; vent and downy under tail-coverts dark 

 brown. 



Young males resemble the females, but have the primaries partly 

 or wholly chestnut. 



Bill brownish horny ; naked skin of face whitish ; irides dark 

 brown ; legs and feet greyish brown. 



Length of male in full plumage 6| to 7-| feet, without train 

 40 to 46 inches ; tail 20 ; wing 18; tarsus 575; bill from gape V9. 

 Females measure : length about 38 ; tail 13; wing 16 ; tarsus 5. 



Distribution. Throughout India proper and Ceylon except in a 

 few localities, such as parts of Lower Bengal, that appear too damp 

 or otherwise unsuited. The Common Peafowl abounds at the base 

 of the Himalayas, ascending the hills to about 2000 feet, and 

 locally somewhat higher, and it inhabits the whole Assam valley 

 up to Sadiya, but no Peafowl is found in Sylhet, Cachar, or Manipur, 

 and P. muticus replaces the present species farther south. To the 

 westward, Peafowl abound in Gruzerat, Cutch, and Kajputana, being 

 protected and regarded as a sacred bird ; but they have probably 

 been introduced in many places and certainly in Sind, as in all the 

 countries named they are found about villages in a semi-domesti- 

 cated state. In Southern India the Peafowl ascends the hills to 

 an elevation of at least 5000 feet, but in Ceylon it is essentially a 

 bird of the low dry country forming the northern part of the 

 island. As is well known, it is found domesticated in many 

 tropical and temperate countries. 



Habits, <Sfc. Where truly wild, Peafowl are generally found in 

 small parties in forests, or bushy, broken ground near water. 

 They are often met with in cultivation, especially where, as 

 is the case in many parts of JN"orth-western and Western India, 

 they are protected by particular castes of Hindus. They feed 

 on grain, buds, shoots of grass, insects, small lizards and snakes. 

 The call of the Peacock is a loud sonorous cry, having a distinct 

 resemblance to a cat's mew and audible at a great distance. Pea- 

 fowl roost on trees and they are in the habit, like most Pheasants, 

 of returning to the same perch night after night. The males 

 moult their long trains after the breeding-season, with the other 

 feathers, about September in Northern India, and the new train 

 is not fully grown till March or April. In the South of India the 

 change of plumage and breeding-season are several months later. 



