70 PHASIAN1DJE 



Peafowl are polygamous ; several males, with their tails and trains 

 raised vertically and expanded, may be seen strutting about and 

 " showing off " before the hens. The latter Jay usually 6 or 7 eggs, 

 for the most part in the rainy season from June to September. 

 The nest is a hollow scratched in the ground, lined with a fe\v 

 twigs or leaves or a little grass, and the eggs are strong and 

 glossy, closely pitted, whitish to reddish buff in colour, and they 

 measure about 2-74 by 2-05. 



1325. Pavo muticus. The Burmese or Javan Peafowl. 



Pavo muticus, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 268 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 239 ; 

 id. Ibis, 1867, p. 152 ; Hume $ Oates, S. F. iii, p. 165 ; Myth ^ 

 Wald. Birds Bunn. p. 147 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. \ i, pp. 425,' 520 ; 



Pavo spicifer, 8haw fy Nodd. Nat. Misc. xvi, pi. 641 (circa 1800). 

 Pavo javairicus, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Sac. xiii, p. 185 (1821). 



Doun, Udoun, Burm. ; Marait, Talain ; Tuxia, Karen ; Bourony marcih, 

 Malay. 



This Peafowl is distinguished from the preceding by the crest, 

 which is composed of lanceolate feathers webbed throughout and 

 green changing to blue in colour. The neck in both sexes is covered 

 <vUh scale-like feathers, olive-bronze in colour, with purple and 

 green centres and a narrow black border. In the male of P. muticvs 

 all the outer surface of the wings is blackish brown, glossed with 

 green and purple, without bars ; the primaries are rufous buff, 

 paler than in P. criatatus ; all other quills and the tail-feathers 

 blackish brown. The train is more tinged, especially in the middle, 

 with copper, bronzy-violet in certain lights ; the thighs are coloured 

 like the abdomen. 



The female has the head, neck, wings, and lower surface like the 

 male, but the back, scapulars, and tertiaries are dark brown with 

 paler mottled cross-bars ; the upper tail-coverts are as long as the 

 tail, golden green with pale rufous mottled cross-bars ; there are 

 similar cross-bars on the blackish-brown tail-feathers. 



Bill and legs horny brown ; irides brown ; facial skin blue on 

 the upper, yellow on the lower and posterior parts. 



Length of males with full-grown train 6 to 7| feet, without 

 train about 45 inches ; tail 22 ; wing 18-5; tarsus 6'25 ; bill from 

 gape 2*25. Female : tail 16 ; wing 17'5; tarsus 5'5. 



Distribution. Chittagong and Arrakan, and thence locally and by 

 no means abundantly throughout Burma to JSiam, Cochin China, 

 and the Malay Peninsula, also in Java. The occurrence of this 

 Peafowl in Sumatra is doubtful. 



Habits, Qc. Very similar to those of P. cristatus, but, probably 

 owing to persecution, this species is a very shy bird. Little is 

 known of the nidification, except that near Moulmein the breeding- 

 season is in the monsoon, whereas in Pegu the eggs are laid about 

 March. 



